We Voted: Teachers share their voting perspectives
December 8, 2018
Young people, I think this has sparked something in them. And that’s something I’m really excited about, because we don’t want apathy; we want people to get involved and speak out and vote, because it’s their future specifically. Young people, can you make a difference? Can you get involved? Can you be informed?
— Pilar Agüero-Esparza, art teacher
I think [many people voted this year] because people realized what happens when you don’t vote. The last presidential election, there was kind of a low turnout, and that led to President Donald Trump in office. And I think people are regretting that their voice wasn’t heard with the state of affairs right now.
— Abel Olivas, Spanish teacher
The blue wave, going into the midterms, was supposed to be a sweep across the country. But the blue wave was actually more of a blue trickle, so it’s hard to predict what’s going to happen over the next two years. The House being blue gives them a lot of investigatory power, and so it should be interesting to see how the Democrats use that power to go after Trump, if they do use that power.
— Sam Lepler, economics teacher
[In] the House, there’s a lot more variety and diversity, and I think that’s important. There have already been groups of young people who have been speaking out, and so then the next step is to speak out through using your vote. There are a lot of grassroots groups that have been coordinating getting people to vote, young people in particular.
— Lola Muldrew, math teacher