Boomers are voting in droves in SLO County; it’s time for young voters to even things up

The late, great comedian George Carlin said it best: “If you don’t vote, you lose the right to complain.”

Or look at it this way: If someone asks what you want for lunch and you say you don’t care, you can’t gripe when you get a tuna sandwich instead of a turkey club.

Not voting is another way of saying you don’t care ... you’ll leave it to someone else to pick your president or your mayor or decide whether to raise the sales tax.

And while it’s still too early to say for certain, if the current voting trend continues, it appears entire swaths of SLO County voters will leave the decision making to others.

Those most in jeopardy?

The youngest voters.

As of Thursday, the county elections office had received nearly 100,000 ballots — more than half of the ballots issued — and close to 70,000 of those were from voters over 50, according to the latest data from Political Data Inc.

While the data is constantly changing, as of Thursday just 35% of SLO County voters 18-34 had returned their ballots, and 42% of voters 35-49. The return rate jumped to 56% for voters 50-64 and 75% for voters over 65.

Not that there’s anything particularly wrong with waiting; some voters do it purposely, because who knows what news might break in the waning days of the campaign.

But it’s getting down to the wire, and if you haven’t cast a ballot yet — no matter what your age — it’s time to find it, fill it out and pop it in the mail or a drop box.

We’re especially hoping for a big turnout from young voters who, frankly, have been overlooked too long.

Millennials and Gen-Z’ers already are vastly underrepresented in government — most local electeds are over 50; the average age of a member of the House of Representatives is 57; and the average age of a senator is 61.

By not showing up at the polls, young voters put even more power in the hands of older generations who may not be as attuned to issues facing young people just starting careers and families.

It’s past time for young voters to step up and be counted at the ballot box.

We know they care deeply about what’s going on in the community; just look at the turnout at the civil rights protests of the past several months.

What’s more, numbers are on their side. Residents between 18 and 34 are the single largest age group in SLO County. They’re 26% of the total population, while residents over 65 make up 21% of the total.

Young voters could be a huge factor in this election — so much so that some pundits have been calling this the Year of the Young Voter.

That’s as it should be.

Young people are the ones who will have to live with the results of the decisions made today on issues such as climate change, social justice for people of color, health care, family leave policies, student loan debt, housing, reproductive rights and many, many more issues that directly affect young people.

“We hear so often that politics are dominated by older people who have the time to be more involved and go to meetings and whatnot, but this is a way that SLO County’s youth can actually become a part of the conversation,” said Tribune reporter Kaytlyn Leslie.

Together with Cassandra Garibay, she spent the last several months working on The Tribune’s Outspoken 2020 project — an in-depth look at voters under 40 and the issues that most concern them.

As Leslie notes, it’s not too late for younger voters to have a big impact on the 2020 election.

Through the same-day voter registration process, qualified voters can still register and receive a ballot at the county elections office or at one of the county’s 23 voter services centers, which will open starting on Saturday.

Already have a ballot? You can drop it in the mail — just make sure it’s postmarked no later than Election Day — or take it to a drop-off box or a voter services center.

To learn more about the candidates and the issues, check out our Voter Guide.

And remember, you can’t complain if you don’t vote.

So please, mark and return those ballots; this election is far too important to sit out.

This story was originally published October 30, 2020 at 8:41 AM.