This week’s Hella Bus Blog Thirsty Thursday post is all about elections! #knowledgeresponsibly
This week was a big week for democracy with primary election day on August 2nd at the center of it all!
We have some big races happening around the state and in King County from picking a new Seattle mayor to determining control of the state senate in the 45th district (Check out results from election night here). At a time when many young people feel like national politics is kind of like a montage of The Real World and musical chairs, getting down with local elections gives us the opportunity to connect with candidates and vote for people who will have a huge impact on our day-to-day lives (also, this is how we get free churros every Friday from City Hall #amiright? OR #amiright?)
Anyway, let’s talk about how many people voted (aka: turnout) – non-presidential and primary elections aren’t exactly known for hella people busting out to vote and it looks like this year isn’t exactly a combo breaker. Statewide turnout is at 20% (King County coming in at 33%) of registered voters, and with the average age of primary voters statewide being 62 years old (#tbh, I’m a bit disappointed).
That’s why the Bus spent the last few months out meeting young people and helping them register to vote at music festivals, college campuses, and community events! We reached thousands of young people all over Washington in-person and followed up with them through phone calls and our brand spankin’ new text outreach system! It helped us reach out to and remind young people to vote in a way that we hadn’t be able to do before. We even had Komo News stop by the office to learn more about it!
Mark your calendars for Tuesday, November 7th! We have the general election coming up and it’s coming in hot! You have plenty of time to register to vote, if you missed the primary voter registration deadline! You can head to registerinwa.org and reach out to us if you have any questions on how to register to vote, or how you can get involved to help other young people turnout on election day!