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I am a millennial and this year I am registering to vote.

The August primary will be my first opportunity to cast a ballot for publicly elected officials since I voted for Al Gore in a 1st grade presidential practice election.

I am genuinely eager to have my voice heard in the political sphere for the first time, even if it is in the form of one small piece of paper.

What makes me excited is that I’ve heard that those small pieces of paper can add up.

I am also a Hawaiian who is registering to vote.

In this year’s elections I will choose the representatives who I believe will work hardest to preserve this Hawaii that we love while simultaneously moving our community towards a brighter future.

It is not guaranteed that the candidates I support will be elected, but by submitting my vote I can improve the odds.

I believe that the Hawaiians who signed the Anti-Annexation Petition of 1897 would be proud to see Hawaiians today utilizing every tool that we have in the fight to make our voices heard.

Silent Voices

However, many of those voices are going unheard, as there are not enough young people, and not enough young Hawaiians, voting in Hawaii.

But why is this so?

Zachary Fine wrote in his article, “My So-Called Opinions,” that indecision is a factor in millennial apathy, but I think that the distrust that young people feel toward the political system is a more common cause of avoidance. Deception, scandal, and irresponsibility characterize the image of politics that millennials are exposed to through the media.

The distrust this image inspires, combined with a lack of education regarding the voting process, has a deleterious effect on the representation of young people with respect to policies that directly affect us. The irony is that young voters are uniquely positioned to reform the face of politics, but to do so would require becoming engaged in a system that some believe to be at best broken and at worst destructive.

Some young Hawaiians (and older Hawaiians as well) have further qualms when it comes to participating in an American political system, and not without good reason. To many, the U.S. government represents an invasive colonial entity that stripped Hawaiians of their nation, language, and culture, turning us into second-class citizens in our own homeland. Some Hawaiians refuse to participate in a government process like voting to avoid legitimizing this subversion.

This is a righteous statement of protest, but the result is that Hawaiians are underrepresented when it comes to the selection of elected officials, meaning we have a smaller voice and less power.

These are by no means the only reasons that Hawaii has such a low voter turnout, but they are two that deserve recognition and discussion. The next question to ask is, faced with these challenges, how can Hawaii achieve a greater voter turnout, especially amongst the youth?

Teach the Value of Voting

I believe that education is the key.

As a soon-to-be voter, I feel that I still do not know enough about the voting process and believe that many other young people in Hawaii feel the same way.

Every young voter needs some basic knowledge about how voting works in order to have an active voice in the democratic system. Even more importantly, every young person needs to understand that it is in their best interest to vote, because it gives them the power to elect representatives of their choice.

Those representatives make the rules that we all have to live with, so we must choose the people who we trust to make the wisest decisions. The weight of a vote needs to be taught and stressed in schools, so that students are prepared and eager to use it. Emphasizing voting as an expression of empowerment will inspire young people to act.

The Power of Expectations

During my time in high school, the expectation that I would apply to and attend college was impressed upon me by teachers, counselors, parents, and peers.

That expectation played a significant role in my ultimate decision to pursue higher education. Over and over the personal benefits of college such as expanded knowledge, higher salary, and better quality of life were stressed, along with a responsibility to cultivate expertise that I could contribute to the well-being of my community.

Utilizing that same kind of positive pressure in all of Hawaii’s schools and directing it toward getting students to vote could have a significant effect.

I Can — and Will Make a Difference

I alone cannot convince every school in Hawaii to adopt a strategy to inspire students to vote, but I can have an immediate effect on my peers.

Having already printed and distributed a handful of voter registration forms, I have decided to bring copies to all of my classes next week.

It’s a small step, but one in the right direction.

I encourage all civic-minded young people to reach out to friends and convince them to use their voices. If we can help even one more person to actually vote it will be a victory, because the small piece of paper that they add to the pile just might be the one that makes a difference.

About the author: Wyatt Bartlett is pursuing his B.S. in civil & environmental engineering at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He was raised on Maui and graduated from the Kamehameha Schools Maui Campus in 2012.

Community Voices aims to encourage broad discussion on many topics of community interest. It’s kind of a cross between Letters to the Editor and op-eds. This is your space to talk about important issues or interesting people who are making a difference in our world. Columns generally run about 800 words (yes, they can be shorter or longer) and we need a photo of the author and a bio. We welcome video commentary and other multimedia formats. Send to news@civilbeat.com.