From the Editor’s Desk: Voting is personal

When Hillary Clinton ran for president in 2016, my mom took 11-year-old me into the voting booth with her, filled with hope and excitement, telling me all day how historic Clinton’s candidacy was. She told me we were doing our part to break the glass ceiling alongside women across the country. 

If memory serves me — though it may be a figment of my imagination from the naive excitement of the day — I think she let me fill the bubble in for her, casting a vote for what could’ve been the first female president. 

While we all know how that election turned out, the radical hope my mom maintained through years of disappointment was an anchor, reiterating the importance of showing up time and time again for the people who need it most. 

In 2020, when former President Joe Biden selected Kamala Harris as his vice president, again, my mom was hopeful. She bought pairs of black Converse, a staple of Harris’s attire, for the women in my family to wear to the voting booth. 

When I was finally able to vote in a presidential election in 2024, I submitted an absentee ballot from my dorm room in Baumhart Hall. While filling out the sheet from my kitchen counter was lackluster compared to the theatrics of the years before, I couldn’t help but to think about the women before me, like my mom, who had been voting for decades without representation. 

Once again casting my vote, hopeful of electing the first woman to the presidency, the vote was personal. Submitting my ballot felt like the culmination of a century of activists who showed up every day for the rights of Americans who were easier to ignore than to uplift. 

While the midterms may seem inconsequential compared to these historic presidential elections, they’ll take the temperature of a country either enraged or engaged with the status quo. 

The results could be a step forward or a step back, a moment of success or another lesson in perseverance. Either way, they’ll surely be personal. Voting is a part of our political voice, and it echoes the voice of voters who brought us to this moment in history. 

The Phoenix has been covering the Illinois midterms races diligently since last school year, speaking to candidates and sharing voting information. Readers can become more informed voters by reading our election coverage at The Phoenix’s Midterm Election hub.

This week, read about the Illinois governor and Senate races in News, check out the latest installment of the EVArything Bagel Chronicle in Arts and try living more like Anthony Bourdain in Opinion.