Vice President Joe Biden visited nearby Allen University Tuesday to encourage voter turn out for the Democratic party.
While Biden's motivation might have been for a specific party, we believe that his most basic message holds true no matter what political affiliation one holds: voting is essential for change.
Voting. It is our civic duty. A civic duty that we fail to take seriously, more often than not.
But who is "we?"
"We" encompasses the national 18-24 age range. We have had the lowest voter turn out of all the age ranges consistently for the past 11 presidential elections.
This type of rallying from political officials is one way to set a fire under the feet of the Americans just aging into the right to vote.
This fire is particularly important to South Carolina residents with the upcoming gubernatorial election among incumbent Republican Nikki Haley, Democrat Vincent Sheheen, Independent Tom Ervin, Libertarian Steve French and United Citizens Party candidate Morgan Bruce Reeves.
Especially with the presence of some third party candidates, more voter turn out could result in some unexpected outcomes. Student who are dissatisfied with issues like gay marriage and gun control laws in our state have a chance to actually do something about it as opposed to writing paragraphs about it on Facebook to be read by no one but your mother.
While South Carolina is traditionally a red state, the last two presidential elections have hosted the closest margin in years. Change is possible if more people actively participate in democracy, instead of whining on Twitter, as is the norm.
As young voters we finally have the chance to change what can be described as "our mother's political climate," and those who do not seize that opportunity choose to forfeit a say in the world that they live in.