Among the maze that is college life, where our living situations have finally become a constant, one question lingers during election season: From where should you cast your vote? As we grapple with logistics like addresses, one pragmatic assertion emerges — don’t forget your hometown.
Every time I go home for breaks, I’ve grown to realize how easy it is to notice differences in my neighborhood. From a new hotel being built in that one empty lot, to a Sweetgreen replacing my go-to pizza place as a kid, that bittersweet feeling that my hometown was growing without me made me realize how much I still wanted a say in the happenings of it.
Despite the physical distance that college life may create, the relevance of our hometowns remains undiminished, especially in a year where the stakes of an election have never felt higher, regardless of one’s political stance. In a time like this, participation in politics and voting in our elections is paramount.
An important fact to note is that college students’ participation in voting has only increased throughout the years, with a study from the Institute for Democracy and Higher Education finding that 66% of college students voted in the 2020 election as opposed to only 52% voting in 2016. While this is great news and certainly a positive trend, we need to stay resilient and keep that momentum going.
Another thing to keep in mind that might be rather obvious is that college and our current living situations, in general, are not permanent. Not only that, but one study in 2019 even found that 56% of college students planned on moving back home for at least one year after graduation. Not only don’t we stay in our college towns for more than one presidential election, but the majority of college students go right back home for at least a little while after college.
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Initially, it may seem like a chore or even a misjudgment to bother going the extra mile — or in some cases the extra hundred miles — just to tick a box representing your hometown. And sure, the ability to change your voting address to your school address and vote from Champaign may be the easier thing to do.
It’s important to understand it’s much deeper than that.
Our hometowns are where we grew up. The political discussions our parents used to have at the dinner table are in many cases what shaped our political beliefs today. Maybe we didn’t understand exactly what they were talking about back then, but with the stakes today, their stress and passion appear to not have been misplaced.
Just like how our living space has changed around us since starting our collegiate lives, it will change again. Nothing in our lives is permanent right now, except for the place we grew up in and will always seem to have an irresistible tie to.
With a general election only once every four years, it’s an opportunity we can’t pass up. Go out and vote in your hometown, or mail in a ballot addressed to it. With presidential elections coming only once every four years, a lot can happen in that amount of time — trust me, I’d know. After all, I still miss that pizza place.
George is a junior in LAS.
