First Time Voters: Before You Flex Your Ink, Ask Yourself These Questions

Be prepared mi gente, there’s going to be a whole lot of retro and rhetoric here starting with the all-time fav when it comes to democracy and getting inked: Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country!  Legend! Hits the spot EVERY TIME! Combined with “someone struggled for your right to vote, use it!” you’ve got yourself the most potent pre-poll creatine of all times to push you to flex your electoral muscle now that you are legit 18. Lunge ahead bruh, coz quote-unquote: Every election is determined by the people who show up! Will you fam? 

If you have the smolest doubt, ingenious writer Roald Dahl nips it at the bud when he firmly declares, “somewhere inside of all of us is the power to change the world.” Barack Obama gives that a final political twist concluding that: “there is no such thing as a vote that doesn’t matter.” There you have it. Solid confirmation that YOU matter! Your choice matters! Your voice matters! Your vote matters! Believe it. You are the Tommy Oliver that dictates the range of power, the Sailor Moon of your own sacred destiny, the Primus of social transformation. 

Not so simple tho. Na-ah! 

The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all: John F Kennedy

The HOW you chose what you choose and the WHY you choose what you choose are crucial. Your voting decisions are the soul of democracy that will eventually shape the policies that govern your life moving forward. What are the factors then, that’ll help you choose well at the ballot box? Voter behaviour is complex based on myriad social, political, economic and individual factors. Political Science pundits count education, gender, age, ethnicity, race, religion, social identity and income among such influencers, along with personality traits and emotional intelligence.

There are 4 deeper layers that the first-time voter, estimated by the Election Commission to be a powerful 1.85 crore for the 18th Lok Sabha elections, must peel to arrive at the crux of choosing their leadership.

The sharp 23.3 per cent increase in the number of first-time voters since the 2019 General Elections puts the spotlight on the protagonist role Gen Z will be playing in the #2024 political drama for which the stage is set. 

#1: Democracy is based on the conviction that there are extraordinary possibilities in ordinary people – We’re talking of the candidate per se. The star of the whole show. The individual seeking your vote. You need to be totally into he/she/they/them. What they are about? Candidate characteristics, based on personal ideology, political attributes, qualifications, achievements and moral track record must decide your preference. An ideal leader exudes “integrity, self-awareness, courage, respect, compassion and resilience.”

Ever open to colabs, such a leader encourages change, fosters a growth environment and seeks areas of self-improvement. All the 12 essential leadership traits including self-awareness, compassion, influence, courage and resilience are ingrained in such an individual. Look out for these keenly. 

#2: Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote: Once you’ve started your study of your candidate, next is to see whether the party’s actions and words match. That’s the political green flag. Here the language, tone, tenor, mode of communication, body language, social media mannerisms, frequency of interactions with people, women’s voice, DEI vibes, backtracking record all make a difference. Do your research thoroughly comparing past and present notes to arrive at a logical conclusion.

Be very wary of generalizations, quick fix schemes, short cut solutions, complex jargon and freebie doling not backed by proven success and data. There’s no such thing as a free lunch is an established economic law. QED. No one’s in their “fool era” no more! It’s the political values and principals, that govern party leanings towards future-looking policy initiatives. The alignment of a political party’s policies with the values of the GenZ voter is key and should resonate in the campaign strategy through effective two-way communication. 

#3: This is not a moment, it is a movement: The fundamental basis of every movement is authentic and wholesome sources of information. When it comes to poll perceptions, media influence and social networking is bae according to numerous research papers overtime. To be sure your voting decision is on point, keep the prevalent cancel culture, post & delete dynamics, deepfakes, anonymous agenda making, incognito hate speeches and blatant distortions of news in mind and diligently follow up.

Go vernacular. Go wide. Go deep. Ask yourself do your sources of information cover the whole 360 degrees? All angles, permutations and combinations. Steadfast yet relevant information is what we are looking for disseminated in clear, unwavering terms based on facts and stats. Keeping it simple as they say is a good sign so that there’s clarity of motive and motivation. 

#4: Remember for your progress, for your welfare, your happiness never fail to cast your vote in elections - A P J Abdul Kalam: Leadership isn’t a destination, it’s a journey and you the special first time voter are an “invested” active party in this political journey as you exercise your franchise this time. Do the due diligence. Cut yourself some slack too.

Just because you may seem to be following the majority does not mean you are a mental slave to any sort of mass ideology, similarly choosing “different” from your family, friends and folks in general does not automatically pin you down as a divergent buzzkill. Take the challenge head on, apply your own judgement, own measures of assessing situations without prejudice or pre conceived notions of political propriety.  Be the agile/alert learner-observer-activist. 

The great Martin Luther King once said, “If we are to be a great democracy, we must all take an active role in our democracy. We must do democracy. That goes far beyond simply casting your vote. We must all actively champion the causes that ensure the common good.”

Here’s where all your hard work, enlisted in the 4 outlier points above, will pay off. You’ll not just be voting, you’ll BE the change you want to see in the world! It’ll not just be a day off to Netflix & chill, but the time to make real the promise of true democracy. Miracles don’t happen by just sitting around. We have to make them happen ourselves. Anime-spired much iGen?

Views expressed by the author are their own