This year’s presidential election has been turmoil filled with concerns being raised about not enough weight or thought being put into votes. “With this election, I’m concerned that people are voting for the wrong reasons, that they’re voting for popularity and things like personality instead of voting for a public servant who is going to be their voice. We should be electing somebody who is going to do the work for us, and I don’t think that people are considering that. And then there’s the down ballot issues: a lot of times when people vote for those—if they even do, a lot of times they don’t vote for it they just vote for the president—they just check them off and they have no idea what they checked. It’s very sad, we are a very uninformed electorate,” US Government and Civics teacher Bob Blair said.  

The election is proving to be important to many students, with some students wishing they were old enough so they could vote their say. “I would vote Kamala Harris. I think any vote makes a difference and this election is most important to me right now because the other option is so radical. If it was between Kamala and another less radical candidate, I would say I don’t care, but right now, this is so vital. I feel like if Trump wins then we could lose so much in terms of progress and rights,” junior Cameron Hunt said.

Abortion, one of the main topics in debate between candidates, has people taking on vastly different views. “Trump doesn’t even understand half of the policies he’s promoting or advocating against, abortion being one of the main ones. It isn’t legal anywhere to kill children after they’ve been born like he claims, but what would be legal if he is elected, would be killing women in favor of their unborn children. Banning abortions doesn’t stop them from happening, it just makes them more dangerous. If they remain legal, it gives women access to a vital part of healthcare; if they don’t, they’ll keep doing them, just without the safety of care from professionals.” senior Skyler Grogan said.  

After the overturning of Roe v. Wade many states have put abortion rights up to a vote, whether that means putting protections into the state’s constitution or having the right to abortion protected in some way. With this election, 10 states have abortion on the ballot. “Growing up as a Christian I’d say that has definitely influenced my views and how I vote. As someone who doesn’t support abortion that definitely influenced my views, there are states like Alabama, that are not pro abortion. So people in Alabama they are going to try to pass a law, they said that if people from Alabama want an abortion and they go to different state and get an abortion there and then come back they’ll get jail time and they want to pass a law that basically makes them get jail time if they go to a different state to get an abortion. I’d have to look what would happen to the people returning to Washington would be [If a similar law were to be proposed in Washington] but it’s proper, I’d say it’s good that there be laws and justifications in place to go against people who go to a different state and return after getting an abortion,” senior first-time voter Ryan Baughman said.

For some, voting goes beyond the Republican and Democratic parties. “To me, both parties, Democratic and Republican, go against my beliefs and my principles because of their support of Israel. But there are some third-party candidates, like Jill Stein, that are anti-genocide, anti-war, and that kind of stuff that aligns with my morals and views. I’ve always been leaning towards that Green Party. I view voting as a way to voice your opinions on America’s government and actions. Obviously, I’m not really a big fan of the Republican and Democratic parties, so I voiced my opinion by voting third party,” senior and first-time voter Heba Abu-Halaweh said.  

However, voting for a third party does raise some debates on it actually having negative effects. “I don’t support third party voting, at least not for this election. In one where less was on the line, sure, but the lives of whole populations within America are at stake right now. If you don’t agree with either of the candidates, then protest, but don’t do it when anyone who isn’t a cisgender straight white man is in genuine danger. I just think that it’s reckless to throw away your vote to a party that is pretty much guaranteed a loss. A vote not for Harris is as good as a vote for Trump, a man who aims to take away as many rights as possible from anyone who isn’t him. From my perspective, of course it’s important to fight for what you believe in, but you shouldn’t let one specific issue cloud your vision when the rights of over half the nation are at risk,” Grogan said.

For others though, voting is about more than settling. “Third parties aren’t necessarily going to win but I think it’s good to voice your opinion. I don’t think it’s a waste of a vote because at the end of the day it’s your opinion and even if they don’t win, it’s good to have your voice heard and it gives more funding to their future elections,” senior and voter Afshan Munawar said. 

Abu-Halaweh has a similar opinion, “It doesn’t matter if third party isn’t going to win and if my vote’s just going to get thrown away because I still want my voice to be heard, and the Republican or Democratic party doesn’t align with my voice or morals,” she said.  

But there is more on the Washington State ballot than just the presidential candidate, there is also the governor seat up for vote as well as state supreme court seats, senate, house positions, and even more on the local level. The ballot also includes four initiatives regarding topics such as an opt out option for the WA Cares, a public insurance program that all Washingtonians pay into, access to natural gas, repealing the cap on carbon emissions, and repealing the capital gains tax on capital gains over $250,000.

For example, the public lands commissioner is one of the many spots to be voted on. “When they do the reelection for public lands commissioner vote Patrick Depoe in the primaries, I don’t know if he is running again, if I had to put my support out for one political figure and one political figure only that would be Patrick Depoe. The job has a lot to do with the environment because we’re in Washington and there’s a high Native-American population; it’s a lot to do with controlling those Native-American lands. Patrick Depoe’s whole campaign is protecting things like salmon fisheries so Patrick Depoe is a lot about protecting these fish and the native wildlife that a lot of people today rely on for their business and for their families as well. Not to say that who might win isn’t a great person or anything, I just want to see, so currently the big debate among public lands commissioners is about this one initiative [IM 2117], it’s all about carbon tax crediting and putting these caps on carbon emissions and the big debate is yes or no on that and do we let these big companies get away with emitting all these carbons.  For public lands commissioner for Washington, I think it’s so important to support the environment and the native wildlife here and I think that’s the number one thing to look for in that role,” senior first-time voter Mason Ledford said.