Greer | Young voters have power. They have to use it.

Dear Young Voters,

For the past 10 years, I have had the honor of teaching at three colleges or universities. Every semester I walk into the classroom inspired by the enthusiasm, optimism and genuine care for your community, the nation and the world. It is quite humbling.

As the semester moves along, it becomes clear that there is a disconnect between your aspirations for your community, the nation and the world versus your actions to achieve that care. Meaning, your desire for the world versus knowing and using the structure and systems currently in place to achieve those desires.

I learned many of you do not know who is responsible for the things and concerns in your daily lives. You are not clear on civics — the structure and function of the various levels of government. Some of you overlook state and local government with the thought that the federal government is the primary level for many of your concerns.

For example, many have concerns about criminal justice, law enforcement, housing and the environment. Some argue for federal laws for these items yet there is a lack of understanding of the responsibility of local and state government under the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution — that these items are the responsibility of the state and local government.

As with many voters, you are frustrated with “government” because nothing seems to work. Sometimes that is because we are asking the wrong person/department to address our concerns.

We are asking the plumber to fix our electricity.

At the same time while you are learning civics, participating in your government is as equally important.

According to Georgia’s secretary of state website, there are over one million active registered voters between the ages of 18 and 24 and over 650,000 active registered voters between the ages of 25 and 29. This means those between 18 and 29 make up 22% of the active registered voters in Georgia. This is significant.

At the same time, your actual voting turnout numbers are not rising to your potential.

In the 2024 presidential election, less than half of 18 to 24 year olds voted and a bit more than half of 24 to 29 year olds voted.

In the 2025 municipal elections, less than 10% of 18 to 24 year olds voted and just 10% of 24 to 29 year olds voted.

And for some of you, if you do not consistently vote or have gaps in your participation, you can be legally purged from the voter rolls by the Georgia secretary of state. Making you an inactive voter. Then you feel targeted or that the process is rigged or unfair.

You have much more power to affect the change you want by consistently participating.

One comment I often hear from you is that candidates for office or current elected officials do not communicate or talk with your age group unless they want unpaid or low-paid interns. To this I say there is some truth in this comment.

At the same time, you all have the ability to force them to talk with you.

These candidates and officials tend to go to the people who consistently vote because these people can only get into office if they have more than 50% of the votes. So, are you adding to their potential vote count? If not, they will continue to avoid and ignore you. If yes, they will come to you. Organize and become a force as an organized group, this way your actions match your population.

It is easy to ignore people when you are quiet. It is challenging to avoid people who are loud and organized.

Because we are in one of the hubs of the Civil Rights Movement, you may hear that young people were the leaders of the movement to make change happen. This is true. Young people have the audacity to question injustice and band together to want change.

So, the privileges you enjoy today are because of the young people before you. Your grandparents and their generation are the ones who laid the foundation for you. And your job is to continue to build-on that foundation, make it stronger, and expand the foundation for future generations.

You can do this by doing a fundamental action most of your grandparents could not do — vote.

Another comment you tell me is that you do not agree with the candidates on some issues therefore you do not vote. None of us agree with the candidates or elected officials 100% of the time. And that is okay. We should not agree 100% of the time. If we agree all the time, we are robots, not critical thinking humans.

Lack of full agreement is not a reason for not voting because someone is still going to be elected. Plus, in Georgia, the criterion for winning an election is not 100% of the vote. The criterion is more than 50% of the vote.

Consider your vote in a similar way. Which candidate do you agree with most and vote for that person. Once that person is in office, you can organize and put pressure on that official to move in the direction you want them to go. This is your First Amendment privilege to speech, assemble and petition your government. You cannot move someone if you have not participated.

Because most of our elections are close between the winner and loser based on the vote count, you collectively voting just a bit more can change who is elected to office as well as how we view policy for the concerns you have for today and into the future.

You will live with the consequences of policy much longer than those of us older than you. And if you do not participate now, the policy effects can be much more impactful than we can ever anticipate.

To sum it up: What if all the social media and online influencers were the average age of 55 or 60, some 93 years old? Would you do a trendy dance? Wear that trendy outfit? Sing that song? Play that video game? Watch that movie? Would you follow what they did as an influencer?

Or, would you participate to influence the influencer?

I have hope for you and your generation.

Let us take the first steps together to prepare for the future and your leadership in it.

Tammy R. Greer has a PhD in political science and teaches public policy.

---

Want sharper Georgia political analysis in your inbox? Become a founding subscriber to The Peach Pulse.