By WMBD-TV
NORMAL – A Democrat-led rally on the campus of Illinois State University on Thursday was meant to energize young people to express their right to vote with Election Day less than two weeks away.
A crowd gathered in front of the speakers, with attendees carrying signs and cheering after talking points were raised.
One of the speakers was ISU senior Delaney Reynolds, the president of the College Democrats for the school. She urged her fellow students to also care about local elections as well as the presidential.
“Obviously the national election is so important, but your local elections are so vital. They make everything in your community go round,” she said.
Speakers also included Rep. Eric Sorensen, who represents Illinois’ 17th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives, and State Rep. Sharon Chung, who represents the 91st district in Illinois.
Erik Rankin is an instructional teaching assistant at ISU teaching political science at the university. He spoke with WMBD following the rally and stressed the importance of young people making their voices heard.
“We know that if they start voting at 18, it’s going to be much more likely that they’re going to vote as a practice for the rest of their life,” he said.
Rankin said this generation of college students is the most civic-minded he has seen in his time as a professor.
“They’re getting involved in things, maybe it’s related to the environment, maybe it’s connected to other civic and service organizations,” he said.
He echoed Reynolds’ point about local elections, saying they have a greater impact on people’s everyday lives.
“They can go to a Normal Town Council meeting. They can go to a McLean County Board meeting. They can go to a Bloomington City Council meeting. That is the greatest version of a participatory democracy,” he said.
Junior Samuel McCleary attended the rally and is also the membership relations director for the College Democrats. He pointed to climate change as an important issue for young Americans.
“Middle and older aged people are not going to see as much of those effects as young people. It’s important that young people go out to the polls and advocate for themselves and to advocate for our future,” he said.
He also enjoyed hearing from the political candidates at the rally.
“It’s important to put a face to the name on the ballot, and I think this event did a great job of that,” he said.
Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 5.
