With recent controversy and scandal surrounding New York City’s mayoral office, the importance of local elections is becoming more apparent than ever. NYC’s primary elections will be held on June 24. Unfortunately, voter campaigns tend to focus on national elections, often overlooking the need to encourage people to vote in local elections.

As the date of local and specialized elections across the five boroughs approaches this spring and summer, Baruch College’s student body would greatly benefit from receiving more resources in regard to participating in local elections.

While national elections may appear to have a larger impact on the individual, the people’s voting power in local elections should not be overlooked.

Unlike the elections at the national level, local elections do not have an electoral college. With this absence, each individual vote weighs more, directly counting toward election outcomes.

Informing people of their voting power in local elections may incentivize a greater voter turnout. In a large metropolitan area like NYC, local elections can provide youth with an opportunity to engage with their government to a larger extent.

Baruch’s Undergraduate Student Government has promoted voter registration drives in the past, but the student body would greatly benefit from drives that specifically focus on information regarding local elections.

Since local elections receive less media coverage than national elections, students rely on the resources provided by educational institutions to learn more about the voter registration process, the date of local elections and the candidates’ profiles. Finding ways to promote civic engagement among young adults is vital, especially considering the historically low voting turnout rate among this age demographic.

Many young people feel as though their votes are ineffective in large-scale elections, which is why informing them of the impact they can have in local elections is so important. Moreover, the local government can directly address the key issues their cities face.

Informing students of the voting process is important at all election levels and providing information regarding upcoming elections, whether through a newsletter or a voting registration drive, can aid students in increasing their participation in their government. Baruch and its clubs’ associates should be encouraged to communicate such resources to its student body.