Since the last presidential election in 2012, 10.7 million young people have become eligible to vote, according to an analysis done by the Pew Research Center.
While the center estimates that less than half of the Millennial citizens over 18 turned out to vote in 2012, many first-timers are taking to the polls at UNM this time around.
However, those first-time voters have expressed concern about the two major-party candidates and their campaigns.
“It was an interesting first-time voting experience,” said Shantell Moreno, a junior Psychology major, after leaving the early-voting station in the SUB. “With these two candidates it was like, ‘Where do I go from here?’”
Many other students felt the same as Moreno.
“All the facets of this election are pretty unprecedented,” said Adam Avalos, a freshman undecided major. He took special note of the divisive nature of the election.
“It’s been such a crazy election, it’s definitely going to be very memorable for me,” said Stefan Hudgins, a junior business administration major. “I’m afraid of Nov. 8, when they count up everything.”
Moreno reiterated that the major political candidates were very divisive, which makes it very hard to find common ground politically.
Hannah Greenblatt, a freshman pre-nursing major, said she felt extremely let down by both major candidates and their campaigns.
“It was ridiculous, it was just a really crappy first election,” she said. “Both candidates were fighting over dumb stuff and not focusing on the issues... I have no idea what they’re going to do for me.”
Aidan O’Hara, a freshman pre-mathematics major, criticized the campaigns for being more concerned with persuading voters than educating them.
“I watched the debates, but there’s only so much you can pull from those. It’s not focused on what it should be focused on,” he said.
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Other first-time voters noted that they weren’t prepared going into the voting booth.
“Being a first time voter, I could have done a lot more research,” said Michael Sosebe, a junior computer science major, minutes after exiting the SUB voting station. “For the next election I’ll try to do a lot more research prior to the few months before.”
Some, like mathematics major Bryan Rubio Perez, said they had a hard time learning about the candidates for local offices who were on the ballot.
“It's hard to find any information, especially for local government elections. If it were easier people would be more informed and make better decisions,” he said.
O’Hara reiterated this sentiment.
“At the end of the day whoever gets elected president won’t affect my day-to-day life as much as a local politician will,” O’Hara said.
He expressed he intended to research local measures on the ballot prior to voting, which he plans to do this week.
However grim many have seen this election, some are hopeful for the future.
“I’m hopeful that the next election will be better,” Hudgins said. “I hope we won’t have two candidates like this again.”
Rubio Perez said he’s hopeful that something good will come out of this election, regardless of the outcome.
“Overall I'm optimistic,” he said. “I feel there will be a lot of discussion after this election and people will ask for a lot of change.”
Above all, many expressed excitement after their first chance to participate in the democratic process.
“I'd say voting has empowered me. I've been talking about politics for so long, and now I had something to do about it,” Avalos said.
Brendon Gray is a news reporter for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @notgraybrendon.
