Op-Ed: Register to vote, make an impact in the community

If your hometown is Chadron, register to vote at the County Clerk’s office by 5 p.m. Friday, Oct. 24. If you live in Nebraska and intend to make Chadron your hometown, or feel more passionate about issues here than in your hometown; register to vote here. Once you’ve registered, make sure you vote on Tuesday, Nov. 4.

Here’s why: the outcome of the election will have direct impacts on your life. As a member of the CSC community you can make the difference in the outcome of this election.

College students historically do not turn out for midterm elections, but when they do, they have an outsize impact.

This election includes candidates for Governor, the U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives. A statewide initiative to raise the minimum wage, Chadron City Council seats and a sales tax proposition, are also among the items on the ballot this year.

The U.S. Senate majority is at stake, and the differences between the Nebraska candidates are clear. Many of you work for minimum wage and this base determines all the wages above it. The Chadron City Council determines issues related to transportation, law enforcement, housing, and the implementation of the pool expansion if the sales tax proposition passes, among many other issues.

 CSC students have the opportunity to get a year-round pool in two or three years, or longer, and will pay for the use of the pool via student activity fees. You’ll either get a 4-lane lap pool on campus with few other amenities, or a City 6-lane pool across 10th street with a therapy pool, slides, meeting/party room, walking track, sun deck and other features.

The second option will only happen if the sales tax proposition passes. When you graduate and live here, your access to an on-campus pool will be severely limited, whereas the city pool will be much more accessible to all area residents.

Does your vote matter? Yes, in many ways. You can determine the outcomes of the local election and influence the outcomes of the statewide elections. You as an individual, perhaps for the first time, can exercise the most fundamental right and responsibility of a citizen – to inform yourself and participate in electing your representatives and passing important initiatives.

You become enfranchised, something many of your compatriots have fought and died for.  Some of you are, or will be, among that number – thank you. Voting means you become invested in your community in a way that is not possible in any other fashion.

The right to vote means nothing if you don’t exercise it.  So vote.

John Parton – Citizen Advocates for Pool Enhancement

DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in Op-Ed columns are not affiliated with The Eagle.  We reserve the right to edit