Delaware County Community College hosted an event called “America in Crisis – Making Your Vote Count” on Sept. 29, where six panelists spoke to students about the importance of the upcoming presidential election.

DCCC hosted an event called “America in Crisis – Making Your Vote Count” on Sept. 29. Six panelists spoke to students in moderated discussion, explaining why voting is important. (Photo courtesy of Delaware County Community College)

Approximately 150 students and faculty members filled the auditorium of Marple campus at 9.30 a.m. Tony Makowski, a DCCC history professor and the moderator of the event, addressed panelists with a question suiting their professional focus and let them share their views.

The goal of the event was to inspire young people to register and vote, and to explain to students the impact that the upcoming election could have on them. The event had a non-partisan focus.

“If you don’t vote, other people decide who wins,” said Joanna Nealon, the president of the League of Women Voters of Central Delaware County, adding statistics that historically more voters are women.

Makowski emphasized that 65 percent of people eligible to vote did not do so in 2012. According to him, voting is “a freedom, right and responsibility.”

A connection between education and the legislative branch was raised by John Linder, an adjunct professor and a former mayor of the city of Chester, Pa. “Bad politicians are voted by good people who don’t vote,” he said. “Educational matter will be decided based on these votes.”

Stacy Hawkins, an associate professor at Rutgers Law School, mentioned the sudden and unfortunate death of Supreme Court Justice, Antonin Scalia, and emphasized the authority given to the president of the United States to choose a Supreme Court nominee.

“The decision influences future generations,” she said. “With four liberal and four conservative judges, one vote is decisive.”

According to Tara Breitsprecher, a director of the legislative, policy and advocacy efforts of the National Association of Social Workers, Pennsylvania Chapter, people feel like they cannot approach legislators. She explained that it takes 10 phone calls to the office in Harrisburg for an issue to be brought up in front of the government. Yet there was only one call in a period of six months received.  

While Maria Boyd, an assistant professor of communication studies at DCCC, warned against a lack of reliability of social media and reminded the audience that social media influences uninformed population, Stephen Herzenberg, an executive director of the Keystone Research Center, spoke about the situation of American economy and addressed the audience by saying, “We have to fix it together!”               

At the end of the event students were given the option to register to vote right outside the auditorium.

“I cannot vote anyway, so I came only because my teacher promised me extra credit,” said Pavel Klima, an international DCCC student attending the event, “but it was actually really interesting. I didn’t realize the connection between the president and the Supreme Court and the impact that it could have on this country.”