Teenage Diaries - Why Can't I Vote?

By Sunny Keller

We had a chance to hear Sunny’s view on not being able to vote, despite being on the brink of becoming an adult.

How does it feel to be starting your life with the impending doom of global warming?

It feels hopeless. Even looking at these questions makes me panic. How can I apply to college when I don’t know if I’ll have time on this planet to start a career or a family? How do adults expect us to work towards an unguaranteed future? And why won’t they listen to us?

You are expected to grow up, mature, and become an adult as you turn 18, yet you don’t have a say in the political climate you will live in for the next four years? What are your thoughts on this? [A rant is acceptable]

ALL THESE OLD WHITE MEN CONTINUE TO FUCK EVERYTHING UP FOR US AND WE CAN’T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT! From gun control to reproductive rights to climate change, my safety and well being as a teenage girl depends on this election. I’ve never understood how the climate became political. Climate change doesn’t care if you’re a socialist or a Trump supporter. If you’re alive, it will kill you and that’s that. The worst part is that the people who contributed the most to global warming will die before it gets worse, leaving us to deal with it...AND WE CAN’T EVEN VOTE ON IT! We’ve barely lived life and we already have to worry about picking up the mess of everyone who got an environmentally carefree youth.

Does your generation feel disillusioned with our political system? Do you think your peers are discouraged enough by current politics that they won’t or wouldn’t vote?

Only a handful of my friends can vote; most of them (including me) missing it by just a few months. But I know if they could they would be running to the polls, or better yet their mailboxes.