Throughout the election there has been a lot of talk of how millennial turnout could affect the presidential election, Samantha Sonner spoke with young citizens in Dona Ana County about the importance of millennial voting in local races.
Patrick Montelongo is 25, and worked on his first political campaign as treasurer for Scott Krahling’s Dona Ana County Clerk race. He says it’s important to teach young voters about the importance of voting in local races.
“It does especially start local,” Montelongo said. “It starts local, and then goes state, and then goes up to nationwide. And that’s the thing a lot of people don’t know about what else the elections have to offer. Also Bond C for schools, for NMSU or all education programs, also needed help getting funding and that was also on the ballot. A lot of people didn’t know about that because every time someone thinks about the general election, it’s just oh, whose going to be our next president.”
Lucas Herndon, Communications Manager with Progress Now New Mexico says you need to reach young voters where they are, like social media.
“I think that more and more people,” Herndon said. “Especially young people, are seeing that when it comes to the things that effect their lives on the day to day basis, whether its sidewalks, whether it’s student loans, whether it’s their ability to get a job in their community those are things that are really effected on the local level.”
Herndon says they are working to continue to engage young voters.
