by Matt Kirkle
Former First Lady Michelle Obamarecently launched a program called When We All Vote to raise voter turnout, especially for younger voters in the midterm elections.
One of the program’s events is “A Week of Action” which took Obama and many other celebrities around the country to promote voter registration.
Voter turnout for eligible voters decreased in recent midterm elections, nearing an all-time low of 36 percent in the2014 midterm election, according to Fair Vote.
Additionally, the 18 to 29 age range has the lowest voting percentage of any group in the U.S., and it was below 50 percent in the 2016 presidential election.
University of Nebraska at Omaha student Michael Clayton saidencouraging people to vote is crucial, regardless of personal opinion.
“I think too many people assume thattheir one vote won’t make a difference, and that is where the problem lies,”Clayton said. “I think people need to understand the importance of every vote and thatevery vote really does matter.”
The Week of Action took place in late September.
Several celebrities participated, including Tom Hanks, Chris Paul and Tim McGraw traveled with Obama to help register voters. They traveled to a different major city each day of the week: Las Vegas, Miami and Atlanta, trying to encourage voters.
The When We All Vote program provided a toolkit on its website that helped volunteers host their own events to educate voters on issues. Many college campuses took advantage by hosting their own volunteer events to increase voter turnout for the younger age groups.
