Why your vote matters
‘The fate of the world is teetering, and you, North Carolina, are going to have to make sure we push it in the right direction,’ Obama said
November 2, 2016 was a particularly great day to be a Tar Heel. President Barack Obama came to our campus on a campaign mission for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. The POTUS stood onstage at Hooker Fields with rolled up shirtsleeves on that sweltering hot day. He urged North Carolinians to turn out and vote for Clinton and the other local Democratic political candidates.
North Carolina is a swing state in this close presidential race. Since it could go either Republican red or Democratic blue, the Old North State is a hotly contested battleground for Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in their fight to make it to the Oval Office. In 2008 President Obama won North Carolina, but in 2012 he lost it to Republican candidate Mitt Romney. Each race was decided by a very slim margin. On Wednesday, Obama reminded the crowd at Hooker Fields that the 2008 victory was won by 14,000 votes. “That’s about two votes per precinct,” he said. The difference between whether Trump or Clinton wins North Carolina could be decided by just two votes in any given precinct.
Photo: Brenna Elmore / The Tab
Whoever gets North Carolina to swing to the party’s color will likely be the next President of the United States. “Your vote matters. Young people especially, your vote matters,” Obama said, exhorting the audience of primarily young millennials. The outcome of this election, more than any other in our national history, will be the difference in how the character of our nation and our impact on the global terrain is defined and shaped for the next four years and beyond.
What do we truly want for our nation? This depends on the individual, but I can tell you the issues I care most about in this election. The primary issue for me is the candidates’ environmental policies. Taxes are another issue that is important to me and my family is. Hillary Clinton wants to raise taxes on the top 1% of wealthy people while Donald Trump wants to cut corporate taxes from the current level of 35% to 15%. A third important criterion is whether the candidate shows care and respect for people. Does the candidate treat people well? President Obama stated this requirement plainly. “Our job, particularly when we have positions of authority, particularly when this country has blessed us, is to treat everybody with dignity, treat everybody with respect, to treat everybody with generosity and kindness,” he said.
Photo: Brenna Elmore / The Tab.
Obama singled us out, North Carolina. The next president must win 270 Electoral College votes when the final results are tallied on Tuesday night. North Carolina has 15 electoral votes. NBC News’ most recent projections show that Clinton’s electoral vote lead has shrunk significantly in the past couple of weeks and Trump’s have had a growth spurt. Those number fluctuations mean the election is still very much a toss up. But North Carolina could be the weight that tips the balance of the scale to one side or the other. Obama entreats us, “The fate of the world is teetering, and you, North Carolina, are going to have to make sure we push it in the right direction”. So please – go vote.
If you’re registered to vote in Orange County, here are the times and locations.
If you are NOT registered to vote in Orange County or have any additional questions, check out the North Carolina State Board of Elections.