As many as 48.5 percent of millennials turned out to elect Barack Obama to presidency twice, but during the 2010 midterm elections, that number was reduced to only about 15 percent in Pennsylvania.

This drop in participation propelled conservatives to the governorship and U.S. senators seats.

That is why Point Park’s College Democrats are meeting with the University of Pittsburgh’s College Democrats to work on the Get Out and Vote campaign. They are attemptiong to register as many voters as possible this year to get people to vote in the elections because control of the Pennsylvania Governor’s Office and Congress will certainly be decided by 18-to-24 year olds.

“It’s important for both parties to know their stance; we’ve had Gov. Corbett for a while and there have been some issues especially with students, like the Pell Grant being threatened to be taken away,” Rachel Wyatt, president of the Point Park’s College Democrats, said in a phone interview.

In 2010, just two years after President Obama’s first victory in the presidential election, Republicans Pat Toomey and Tom Corbett were elected to the senate and governor’s chair, respectively. They have since voted against women’s rights, gay rights, raising the minimum wage and have both participated in slashing the education budget.

The College Democrats are involved with the Tom Wolf campaign to get people registered to vote. 

“We are asked, as citizens, who we want to represent us in the government. We don’t get our own personal voices heard most of the time, so we have to get our voices out through politicians that run for governor, senator, congress or state representative. We have to make sure we have the right people for our voices to be heard,” Wyatt said.

Wolf is leading Corbett, according to four independent polls, the Franklin & Marshall College, Muhlenberg College, Quinnipiac University and Yougov. 

Pennsylvania is not the only state with upcoming elections.

“The important races are L.A., N.H., [and] N.C.. The Republicans may do well, but then again they may not. Some of the races are very close—really close—so attention is paid closely because they’re important,” Nathan Firestone, a political science professor at Point Park, said.

Many students come from outside the states and are familiar with the candidates of another state or city. Julian Ransome is from Washington, D.C., and he is following the hometown election.

“I’m focused on the mayoral race [of Washington, D.C.]. The current mayor, Vincent Gray, is running for reelection, and I plan on going back home just to vote [to re-elect Gray],” Ransome, freshman Mass Communications major, said.

Voting is important for college students and young voters, but Pennsylvania ranked forty-fifth out of fifty states in 18-to-24 year olds voting.

“A lot people don’t vote because they are not very educated on the political stances, and what’s happening in the government. They are focused on their career and schooling. A lot of people seem not to care to vote because they feel their voices won’t be heard anyway,” Wyatt said. 

Many people believe their vote matters, despite their vote being the one of several. 

Paul Fields, sophomore broadcast reporting major, has an interesting take on votes mattering.

“In truth and in terms of hopeless optimism…our country was founded upon democracy of getting out and voting. However, it’s up to the elected officials to do their jobs well and live up to the ideas that voters believe,” Fields said.

Voting is essential in a democracy that is for the people, but if the people don’t indicate who they want to take office and take action, then the system of democracy crashes. Millennials, 18-to-24 year old, tend not to align themselves with a political party, Republican or Democrat.

“The party system does not satisfy their political concerns, despite the changes over time to the parties, a lot of the negative commentary about politics comes from talk radio,” Firestone said.

Some students such as Annalise Bezri, sophomore Advertising and Public Relations major, don’t really know much about this year’s governor’s office candidates due to schoolwork, but has registered to vote.

“Yeah, it’s most likely [because of school], but when I turned 18, I registered to vote. It was an election year for the presidents. That was the only thing I voted for,” Bezri said.

Oct. 6 was the last day to register to vote, but the deadline to request for an absentee ballot in Pennsylvania is Oct. 28 and the return date for absentee ballots is Oct. 31. The general election day in P.A. is Nov. 4.