The right to vote is one that is central to our idea of government in the United States of America; however, it seems to be a great challenge to motivate some groups of people to cast their votes. Perhaps one of the most challenging groups to mobilize to the polls is the college demographic. To me, this is a perplexing reality. The majority of the college demographic has just recently recognized their right to register as legal voters in the United States and have their voices heard at the polls.

To me, this would seem highly motivating, and yet, so many college students neglect to exercise this right. The typical excuses are many. Whether it is due to being busy, lazy or some combination of the two, the bottom line is that too many college students are missing out on the opportunity to have their votes cast.

This past election cycle, our campus had an early voting site for a nearly two-week early voting period. The site was located in the heart of campus, in our very own student union. While some students did take part in the process, many of the voters were members of the surrounding community, not current students. Having this site on campus made the process to cast a vote arguably as easy as possible for a college student at NC State University. So, if simplifying the process and dramatically improving the convenience of voting have a minimal impact on the college voter turnout, then what will?

In my opinion, the only way to significantly increase turnout or participation in any capacity is to motivate others to have the desire to participate. Only those who are passionate about voting, being civically engaged and being heard will truly make the effort to ensure that their vote is cast. It is because it is something that they care deeply about.

Consequently, an effective approach to motivate voters might be to focus less effort on direct voter engagement and focus more on voter education; finding ways to motivate the voting population by simply providing resources and events that serve to educate. Perhaps if more college students were aware of the possible ramifications of elections that concern them, they would be more effectively motivated to cast their ballot.

Voter education would be my focus with regard to voter engagement for future elections.

Andrew McDonald is a fourth-year studying aerospace engineering and the director of government affairs for Student Government.