Colgate Campus Team, from left to right: Jaharra Anglin Stubbs, Nia-Patrice Lewis, and Liv Dorian
I’m voting because my future depends on it – Caroline Goldie, Colgate
The Feminist Majority’s Vote for Equality campaign aimed to boost young voter turnout to help elect candidates who will defend our rights—from abortion access to gender equality—and safeguard our democracy. Our team at Colgate University consisted of 3 seniors who wanted to create real change: Jaharra, the campus coordinator, and Liv and Nia-Patrice, the campus organizers. As a team, we were dedicated to activating and mobilizing our campus community to vote for a referendum that would protect abortion rights and enshrine equality into the New York State Constitution and for candidates in the House and Presidential races that were pro-equality and pro-abortion rights. We understood that our work was serious; it would be challenging, but it was all worth it. Our team understood that protecting our rights and securing equality could no longer be treated as a secondary issue in our democracy.
When we asked our team why they were voting in this election, one volunteer, Caroline, offered this response: “because my future depends on it.” From this statement, we can capture a sense of the cultural zeitgeist among many college-aged women participating in this election, particularly those on Colgate University’s campus. Sentiments of hope, optimism, and responsibility simultaneously reflect the beauty of the right to be enfranchised. We see vividly the importance of the right to be heard, the right to be seen, and the moment of a woman empowered. This point in American history has been in the making for 104 years, from when women were granted the right to vote. Yet this dream, this right, faced the most significant challenges on Tuesday, 5th November 2024.
For ambitious young women like Caroline, voting in this election was not merely a civic duty, but a chance for change. It was hope. Caroline would remark that this was an “opportunity to exercise her right to vote and protect the lives of future Americans.” This was her contribution to progress. For the left-leaning, politically engaged sect of our campus, issues of women’s and LGBTQ+ rights, education, and climate change were at the forefront of voting motivations. Our New York state voters were particularly concerned about codifying equality into the state constitution and ensuring that we all had protected rights irrespective of race, gender, sexuality, or religion.
As organizers and coordinators across swing districts, we took on a political responsibility to work towards this progress, to honor the work of the many Black, feminist, and queer leaders before us. In our work on campus, we leafleted, educated, and galvanized our peers, trying to convey the importance of civic engagement and teach people to self-actualize their political selves. This kind of civic education made a long-lasting impression for first-time voters and provided a much-needed familiarity with the political process they can now carry forward. Again, this crucial look towards the future is central to young voters. With a life experience so short yet robust with historical events, the premise and promise of the future was the seat from which the significance and the direction of many of their votes were founded.
In the wake of the results, one crucial question arose for many young women voters: is the future just on hold? This sentiment has only grown from Trump’s initial election in 2016, challenges to our education in 2020, and threats to our autonomy, freedoms, and, arguably, democracy as of 2024. We, like many other young women, are hurting. As women and queer folk in higher education, the future on the horizon is asking us to question if the writing is simply on the wall and whether accepting a lowering glass ceiling is a wise step forward. Yet, amid this talk of the future, the gravity and possibility of the present moment must not be forgotten.
In the days post-election, among the thank you’s received for our work, a small yet encouraging message came through in the form of the phrase, “Thank you for everything…It meant, and it means something.” That shift from the past and continuing into the present makes all the difference here. We want you to know that the fight was worth it. It reminds us of where we are and how far we have come. As we pick our heads up and look toward the future, we cannot forget the importance and power of the work that we have done thus far. The strides that we made as women and a politically engaged community. We were given just 3 months to support a historic candidate and did just that.
But as we shift into this new space, we must remember to continue to center ourselves. Thus, we end by saying this:
Dear young women and people of today, as we grieve and manage our sense of defeat, please remember that the future is not on hold; it is simply in our hands.
– Nia-Patrice Lewis, Jaharra Anglin Stubbs, Liv Dorian