Why you should register as a voter and vote

IEBC is currently undertaking voter registration for potential first time voter who are mostly youths, and who should vote when elections are called. According to Worldometer 2021, the median age in Kenya is 20.1 years meaning that of the 48 million Kenyans, the average is 20.1 years. It should be noted that voting is a civic duty that is driven by three major words – “Your Vote Counts”. It should also be clear that how a certain region is governed depends to a greater extent on elected officials who make ground shaking policy decisions and execute projects that affect all our lives. This is the reason Aristotle ranked politics ahead of capital and education because politics, which is primarily driven by voting patterns, affects entire livelihoods of people.

There are five major reasons as to why young people and Kenyans in general should vote in any elections. Number one, elections have consequences on the quality of life for current and future generations for nations. Through elections, we are able to express and state our value systems and priorities for our country. Through elections, we are able to choose among the good, better and the best since it should be an issue based competition as espoused in Kenya Vision 2030. Competition of ideas should have a situation where the good gives way to the better and the better ultimately gives way to the best. Secondly, when you don’t vote, you are assumed to have given up on your voice. It is important to scrutinize potential candidates and settle on the one that meets your aspirations which is your voice. Thirdly, voting affects the way revenues and taxes are used in the development process- voting is therefore a way of stating how you want the same to be used. Fourthly, voting is an opportunity to bring change, and fifth, voting enables your interests to succeed or fail. Three quotes are important here, “Our political leaders will know our priorities only if we tell them, again and again, and if those priorities begin to show up in the polls” by Peggy Noonam; secondly, “Talk is cheap, voting is free; take it to the polls” by Nanette Avery and thirdly, “Not voting is not a protest. It is a surrender” by Keith Ellison.