The Millennial generation has the potential to make a large impact on the election, due to the sheer size of the population that is finally of voting age.
But do Millennials know who they are voting for?
Associated Students of UNM Sen. Ted Olguin said he took advantage of the early voting location on the top floor of the SUB, and has followed the campaigns very closely, both for local and state races.
This has provided him with a lot of general knowledge of the candidates involved for state races, he said.
“I’m genuinely interested and concerned with the welfare of this state, and that welfare ultimately boils down to who we vote for locally,” Olguin said.
Olguin said, in regards to the debates, his favorite debate fact-checker is NPR, as well as the source PolitiFact, which he uses regularly. He also said that Ballotpedia is a great source for anyone who needs a little more information about any of the state races.
“One of my favorite things to do is fact-check,” he said.
Olguin said he genuinely believes media coverage affects voters’ awareness over candidates, and if a candidate isn’t present in the media their ability to influence voters is directly impacted in a negative way.
“I think we’re all aware that the costs can be a hurdle to overcome, so that’s where face-to-face engagement comes in,” he said.
Representative Michelle Lujan Grisham, D-NM, is a candidate who Olguin said he has personally seen engage with students time after time.
Candidates must be willing to engage with students on campus to advance their awareness among the student population, he said.
“I believe that the media, with all of their power and influence, hold a very important responsibility to the public,” he said.
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Olguin said this responsibility is given to all forms of media, whether the media outlet is on the radio, television, or the internet.
“We all turn to the media for our most basic information needs,” he said. “I also believe that we’re responsible as individuals to seek out this information, but the media is really our first go-to for this information.”
Olguin said he really thinks all national elections overshadow local elections because of their sheer magnitude.
“It’s hard to break through all of the noise when you have these polished campaigns (sometimes) reaching out to a national audience,” he said.
Olguin said his advice to the student body is to do their own outside research if they want to be informed on all of the candidates.
“Candidates share what they want and you don’t get the entire picture, so doing your own research is necessary,” he said.
UNM student Reed Muehlmeyer, a sophomore criminology major, said that after voting for the first time this year, he sees the importance of research.
Upon filling out the ballot, Muehlmeyer said he did recognize a few of the names including court officials, but aside from those, not too many of the candidates stood out.
Muehlmeyer said he does believe media coverage on candidates affects voters’ knowledge about who is running in the races.
“I believe seeing the name over and over again really does reflect how you see the ballot,” he said. “When you see someone on the news, I think it’s more likely for the person to recognize them and know that person on the ballot, compared to someone you never hear and never see.”
After getting to see how the process works, Muehlmeyer said that in 2020 he feels he will be more informed about the candidates on the ballot.
“I wanted to go through the process, and having gone through it, I do see now I don’t know all the people on here and that I should do more research,” he said.
Abigail Pratt, a sophomore criminology major, said she made researching the platforms of the candidates on this year’s ballot a family affair.
Pratt said she felt it was the media’s job to portray all angles, but she does not feel it does so.
The Rio Rancho Observer, a paper Pratt reads, sends out information on the candidates, she said.
However, Pratt said the newspaper only touched on the presidential candidates and House of Representatives races, and not the majority of the candidates on the ballots.
“For the small amount of people reading the paper, that’s not a lot,” she said.
Pratt said she feels Millennial students are really just looking at what the media is telling them, and not doing the background research they need to find the whole story.
Despite the lower media coverage for local candidates, Pratt said she feels like some of the candidates like to do interviews with the local papers. “I feel like the candidates are trying to get noticed, but the media is preventing certain ones they don’t like from getting noticed,” she said.
Because of this, Pratt said she does the research to find who these people are, what party they are running for, and what their stances are on the issues.
Pratt said voting is important, and those who don’t take the time to make it to the polls don’t have the right to complain about the results.
Pratt also said what Millennials don’t always realize is that every action has a consequence, regardless of whether they research who they are voting for.
If you do not do the research, Pratt said, you are just left guessing.
“It’s like an SAT test you didn’t study for,” she said, “and you’re just filling in the bubbles.”
Nichole Harwood is a news reporter at the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Nolidoli1.
