<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=3SxkZF_1Gm9NBqi00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=3SxkZF_1Gm9NBqi00" width="1200" height="800" ></figure>For Chico State student Gavin Encinias, becoming old enough to vote meant more than casting his own ballot. It meant convincing his family to do the same.Encinias, a first-year music industry major, registered to vote for the first time this election cycle. His parents did not vote often, he said, but conversations with them helped change that.“I think they should,” Encinias said. “I told them and they go, ‘Yeah, we should.’ And then now they do.”He registered at a table on campus, where someone helped walk him through the process.“It was very easy,” Encinias said. “A guy on the stand helped me through the whole process. He mostly did it for me, but not like manipulated me. I had no issues.”But across Chico State, not every student shared his enthusiasm for voting.John Hinchey, a first-year pre-recording arts student, made the opposite choice.“I have a right not to vote,” Hinchey said.The difference between the two students reflects a larger question surrounding young voters: If they have the right to vote, will they actually use it?National data has historically shown a turnout gap between young voters and the electorate as a whole. In the 2022 midterm election, 28.4% of citizens ages 18 to 24 voted, according to an analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau data by Tufts University’s Center for Information &amp; Research on Civic Learning and Engagement. Overall turnout among the citizen voting-age population that year was 52.2%.The numbers show the gap, but the reasons students vote — or don’t — can be more complicated.<figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=2ZSKwd_1Gm9NBqi00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=2ZSKwd_1Gm9NBqi00" width="1920" height="1280" ><figcaption>A voter exits the Bell Memorial Union (BMU) polling place for the midterm election after voting on Nov. 3, 2026 in Chico, Calif. ((Dash Ferrero/The Orion))</figcaption></figure><h2>Does one vote matter?</h2>For Encinias, the answer depends partly on the election.He said he believes an individual ballot can have more influence locally.“I think it can make a difference in local elections but not in the presidential election,” Encinias said, pointing to the Electoral College as part of his reasoning.Local races can directly affect the communities students live in and Chico voters had decisions to make this election involving local offices alongside state and federal contests.Still, getting young voters to participate has been a challenge.During California’s March 2024 primary, just over 5% of Butte County’s approximately 12,000 registered voters between 18 to24 had returned their ballots as of March 4, according to reporting based on figures from the Butte County clerk-recorder and registrar of voters. The figure was recorded before Election Day and was not the final turnout rate.There are signs that young people’s interest in the 2026 election may have increased.One week before Election Day, the number of registered voters ages 18 to 29 nationally was 3% higher than at the same point before the 2022 midterm election, according to CIRCLE. Registration among newly eligible 18 and 19-year-old voters was up 8%.At Chico State, efforts were also made to put ballot drop boxes within walking distance of students.The university placed an official ballot drop box outside the Bell Memorial Union and hosted an official voter assistance center and polling location on campus. Chico State’s Office of Civic and Community Engagement also organized pop-up voter assistance locations around campus for Election Day.But access to voting doesn’t always guarantee a ballot gets cast.<h2>Wanting to vote isn’t always enough</h2>For first-year electrical engineering major Adan Reyes, not voting wasn’t about believing his vote didn’t matter.He wanted to participate.His ballot was simply somewhere else.“There are a lot of issues I care about, and I did want to vote on them,but my ballot’s only in my hometown,” he said.Reyes said he hadn’t updated his mailing address after moving to Chico, leaving his ballot back home.“It’s not that I didn’t want to, it’s that my ballot was over there, and I wasn’t smart enough to put the mailing address over here, I guess.”His experience illustrates another obstacle facing young voters, particularly college students who may move between their hometown and college address.National data suggests logistics can play a significant role in whether registered voters actually participate. Among registered voters who did not cast a ballot in the 2022 midterms, the most commonly reported reason was being too busy or having a conflicting work or school schedule, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.For Reyes, missing this election hasn’t convinced him that voting is pointless.He said he would consider voting in the future if his ballot reaches him where he is currently living. Although he isn’t sure how well politicians represent college students, he still believes individual votes matter when they become part of something larger.“As a collective, you can make a difference,” Reyes said. “If one person doesn’t vote, then that mass becomes smaller. So in a way, one vote does make a difference.”When asked what he would tell someone who believes everyone should participate in voting, Reyes didn’t disagree.“I agree with them,” he said. “Everybody should vote.”Hinchey sees the choice differently.For him, choosing not to participate is itself a choice he has the right to make.“I have a right not to vote,” Hinchey said.For students like Encinias, Reyes and Hinchey, Election Day revealed three different relationships with the ballot: one student casting his first vote, another wanting to participate but missing the opportunity and another choosing not to participate at all.Their decisions are different, but they revolve around the same question young voters face every election:Whether one vote is worth casting.Justin Casasola can be reached at [email protected]</div></body>

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For Chico State student Gavin Encinias, becoming old enough to vote meant more than casting his own ballot. It meant convincing his family to do the same. Encinias, a first-year music industry major, registered to vote for the first time this election cycle. His parents did not vote often, he said, but conversations with them helped change that.

Ballots and doubt: Chico State students split on whether voting matters

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For Chico State student Gavin Encinias, becoming old enough to vote meant more than casting his own ballot. It meant convincing his family to do the same. 

Ballots and doubt: Chico State students split on whether voting matters

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