‘It feels pretty nice’: Idaho’s first-time voters cast their ballots
Election Day is underway.
As Idahoans across the state make their way to polls, a slew of young voters will cast their ballots — or have already submitted their absentee ballots — in a general election for the first time.
Allyson Hopkins is one of those young voters. The 19-year-old Boise State student told the Idaho Statesman that she voted for the first time through an absentee ballot a couple of weeks ago.
“It feels pretty nice,” Hopkins told the Statesman on campus Tuesday afternoon about voting for the first time.
In Idaho, young voters like Hopkins have registered to vote in higher numbers than they have in the last midterm election in 2018, according to prior Statesman reporting. An analysis by Tufts University’s Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement found that in Idaho voters ages 18 to 24 rose 18% from November 2018 to November 2022.
The number ballooned significantly for voters 18 and 19 years old — with an 81% increase from 2018, according to the Tufts analysis.
Hopkins, who is a sophomore at Boise State, said her criminal justice professor told her she has two jobs as an American citizen: jury duty and voting.
Hopkins told the Statesman she understands the reality that Republicans will likely dominate in Tuesday’s election, so she wants to make sure she votes for the “lesser of two evils.”
In Idaho’s gubernatorial race, Hopkins said Republican Gov. Brad Little is her choice over far-right leader Ammon Bundy, who is running as an independent. She said the issues she is most concerned about are critical race theory, abortion and the ballot measure, which is a constitutional amendment that would allow the Idaho Legislature to call themselves back into session without the governor.
Hopkins didn’t expand on why abortion and the ballot measure were important issues to her, but said she believed students should be taught critical race theory. The American Bar Association defines critical race theory as a theory that recognizes racism and slavery on Black Americans as issues that continue to permeate society today.
“You kind of have to learn the good and bad so you don’t repeat history,” Hopkins said.
Rachel LaForge, 22, told the Statesman she’s most concerned about climate change and criminal justice reform. A recent University of Utah graduate, LaForge, who was raised in Salt Lake City, said she wants to see people “stewarding the land we have well.”
“The Great Salt Lake is literally drying up because people are just abusing the environment,” LaForge said. She added Americans specifically need to find more sustainable ways to take care of the environment.
LaForge told the Statesman on Tuesday afternoon she is planning to vote later today. Though she’s voted before, LaForge said this election she plans to vote for the candidates who care most about issues like climate change and criminal justice reform. LaForge added that “one of the big problems” is the divisiveness between parties.
“It’s important to be active. It’s important to care,” LaForge said about the importance of voting. “We are all impacted by the decisions that are made by our government — whether that’s local or national.”
This story was originally published November 8, 2022 at 3:38 PM.
