Every year it’s driven into everyone’s heads that one vote in the Presidential Election could decide it all, but how true is this? There are over 300 cases of elections having been decided by one vote, and in 2018, 88 state legislative elections were decided by less than half of a vote. When it is said that each vote matters, it is best to believe it.
Just because one is 18 doesn’t mean they can just go out and vote. In Pennsylvania, voters need to register by October 2024 if they want to vote in the 2024 presidential election.
Go to PaVoterServices to register!
“Every election is important. They are the foundation of our nation and our democracy. An election is the voice of the people,” stated U.S. History teacher Mr. Majoris.
Running in the Presidential election this year are former President Donald Trump and current Vice President Kamala Harris. Both candidates have widely differing views on many key issues in today’s society.
Since Donald Trump’s first run for presidency in 2016, he has run two other times, including this year. He won the 2016 election, becoming the first candidate to win office without any prior political or military service.
According to the Pew Research Center, “He achieved a string of long-sought conservative victories domestically, including the biggest corporate tax cuts on record… a reshaping of the federal judiciary… a wider effort to address what he saw as glaring imbalances in America’s economic relationship with other countries.”
His main weakness is having to confront the issues he didn’t resolve during his last term, like building a wall on the southern border of the U.S.; however, much of this wall was blocked by the largely Democratic Congress and Senate, leaving the wall unfinished at the end of his term.
The other candidate, Kamala Harris, was an attorney general in California before her 2017 – 2021 representation of California in the United States Senate. She ran for the Democratic nomination for president in 2020, but her campaign fizzled out and she was brought onto President Biden’s ticket as VP.
Presiding over an evenly split Senate upon entering office, Harris played a crucial role as president of the Senate. She cast more tie-breaking votes than any other vice president, which helped pass bills such as the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 stimulus package and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.
She succeeded as an attorney general with a “tough on crime” message, before changing her ideologies to become a “progressive reformer.” If elected, she would be the first African American woman and the first South Asian American to be president.
Her main weakness is being linked to the Biden administration’s record. She has also been criticized for failing to do her job at the southern border.
World History and Emerging Worlds teacher Mrs. Zivanovich commented, “They both have experience serving in the executive branch of government at the national level – Trump as President 2016-2020 and Harris as VP 2020-Present. Kamala Harris also has experience at the state level in both the Senate and executive branch. This both helps and hurts them as both are being attacked for their records in office.”
Eighty-one percent of registered voters say that the economy will be very important in deciding their vote in the 2024 election.
Economics teacher Mr. Lee stated, “Seniors should be very concerned about world issues. They are now adults, they have legal rights, they’re draft-eligible. These issues affect your past, your future, and your present.”
Trump plans to bring production back to the United States and apply a tariff on all imported goods so other countries will have to pay a tax to supply the United States with trade items. He states he wants to lower everyday costs and make America affordable.
Harris plans to build up the middle class, because “when the middle class is strong, America is strong.”
She wants to lower everyday items’ prices, cut taxes for many middle-class families, lower housing prices and build an opportunistic economy.
This election is just as important as every other. The main issues for this election will still be here in four more years. It doesn’t matter who wins or loses, it’s how much of an effect they have on Congress.
“If you don’t have control of the House, you’ll have a hard time with your agenda,” said Lee.
If eligible, do all the research possible and get out to the polls and vote. One candidate may not be a perfect match, so students should pick who they align with the most.
