I am someone who didn’t plan on becoming an adult. It’s something that naturally occurred overtime; as it should. But with becoming an adult I gained many responsibilities, especially being American citizen. One of those responsibilities is that I’m now legally allowed to vote.

Before starting this project, I had no desire to vote. My political opinion was non-existing, and frankly I thought elections were stressful to our society. But now that I have a voice; why shouldn’t I use it?

So I asked a few of my friends if they had registered to vote yet and they all had the same answer. I felt relieved that I wasn’t the only one who hadn’t given voting much thought, but I was also curious as to why that was. 

Key issues in every election increasingly relate to the concerns of students and people between the ages of 18 and 29. It’s important for us to educate ourselves on political issues and take part in the polls. I don’t think enough Gen Z’s are aware of how important their voice really is. I know I wasn’t. 

I decided to educate myself on the political economy. In today’s tech-savvy world, it’s easy to find day-to-day political news. I started listening to NPR podcasts, researching candidates, and following the political issues on multiple social media platforms. 

After a few weeks I had a greater understanding of what was going on in the political world. Knowledge on social, domestic policy, and environmental issues and the ways our candidates plan to approach these issues. 

My knowledge on these topics isn’t quite where I want it to be yet but, primary voting doesn’t start until May fifth. I still have time to further my education on the candidates. And if I learned so much in just a few weeks, imagine what I’ll know when it comes time to vote. 

So I decided to put my big girl pants on and register to vote. Being the Gen Z that I am, I just googled “registering to vote in Indiana.” The first website to pop up was indianavoters.in.gov.

It was incredibly easy to register. There are five requirements: to have a valid Indiana Driver’s License, be a citizen of the United States, be at least 18, have lived in your home for at least 30 days, and not currently be incarcerated. All I needed was my ID number and to fill out some basic personal information. 

For more information on registering to vote in Indiana, visit https://www.in.gov/sos/elections/2403.htm

I encourage anyone and everyone who can vote to register.