With the midterm elections rapidly approaching, races are heating up as campaigns are giving their maximum effort to get a leg-up on the competition. Here in Mesa County, we are at the epicenter of one of the most nationally-covered races of the whole midterms.

Here in Mesa County, we exist within Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, where a heated battle between the incumbent Lauren Boebert (R) and Adam Frisch (D) is playing out before our very eyes. Boebert has been described as an “extremist Republican,” while Frisch has been running as a Democrat, but significantly downplaying his label as such. With these two polar opposites of the political spectrum playing tug-of-war, it is becoming increasingly essential that we try to make our way to the ballots for this year’s midterm elections. 

Colorado Mesa University (CMU) political science professor, Justin Gollob, spoke about the importance of voting for midterms, especially as younger members of society. 

“Voters who are under 30, we see that they don’t participate at high levels, and when they do participate, they tend to only presidential elections.” 

In the 2018 midterm election, only 32% of young adults ages 18-24 voted. It was a slight increase from 2014, so we could potentially see this trend continue to rise, however, only time will tell. 

On the opposing end of these statistics, citizens over the age of 30 vote in quite higher numbers, almost 30-40% more than 18-30-year-olds. Unless the younger demographic wants to continue to have a lesser voice in the outcomes of these elections, it would be a good idea to get out and cast your vote for this year’s midterms.

“There’s more to the federal government than just the president, there’s a co-equal branch of government, the Congress, that has a lot of oversight over the president. [Congress has] a very big role, in fact the main role, when it comes to the federal budget,” Gollob said. The results of these elections directly reflect what our Congress and Senate will look like moving forward, which has direct effects on the partisan divide, or the ratio of members between the two parties that populate the House of Representatives and the Senate. 

Gollob spoke on the importance our votes have on reflecting the partisan divide moving forward, saying, “If your primary focus is on the presidency, then you really need to be focused on the partisan balance in the House and the Senate. […That’s] going to have a significant impact on whether the president will be able more or less efficiently achieve his agenda in the next two years.” 

There are levels to this importance and necessity to get out and vote in these midterms. Ballots can be turned into the drop box outside of the Moss Performing Arts Center, once the election day draws nearer. 

Mesa County ballots can be submitted to the drop boxes as late as 7 p.m. on Election Day. For those mailing in their ballots, officials recommend sending it eight days in advance.