Kamala Harris wouldn’t sacrifice herself like this, Hellman thought, and certainly neither would Donald Trump. Neither candidate plans to end American aid to Israel, which students like Hellman consider a deal breaker on election day.
“Genocide is the red line,” Hellman argues. “If your candidate is perpetuating a genocide, then we're not just gonna blindly vote for them.”
Hellman says their sentiment is shared among other young voters, especially as protests against the conflict in Gaza have taken place on college campuses across the country, generating more awareness about the conflict. Hellman's fellow CU Denver classmate and SDS member, Feven Nebiyu, believes that the conflict in Gaza has pushed some students into a corner of weighing the moral implications of voting for a party they believe has perpetuated this violence, or not voting at all.
“It’s an impossible choice; it’s a Sophie's choice,” says Professor Tony Robinson, Chair of CU Denver’s Political Science Department, regarding students who don't vote because of the conflict in Gaza. “So you make the choice that is the only one possible to kind of save your own sense of right and wrong, and to maintain a moral position that you can go forward and fight with into the future.”
Students like Hellman and Nebiyu aren’t the only ones fighting this internal moral battle: According to a poll released by the Arab American Institute, 55 percent of young Arab American voters aged eighteen to 29 years old, are unenthusiastic about voting, citing the conflict in Gaza as their second-highest concern. A separate study by Inside Higher Education showed that 8 percent of just over 1,000 college students were not planning on voting.
These students probably won’t make a huge dent in the presidential vote in a state like Colorado, Robinson notes, but they could impact the results in swing states. And even with Gaza-related boycotts, young voter turnout has been on the rise since the presidential election in 2016, according to a survey by the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.
The CIRCLE survey estimates that 50 percent of people eighteen to 29 years old voted in the 2020 presidential election, compared to 36 percent in the 2016 election. For this election, CIRCLE predicts that Generation Z voters could make up around 40 million potential voters, which is nearly a fifth of the American electorate.
Robinson estimates that young voter turnout will be just as high, if not higher, than it was in 2020: “Everybody recognizes the unique importance of this election. So there will be high turnout, and young people will be part of that," he says.
Juan Diaz, a student at CU Denver, is among America’s Gen Z youth that will be voting in this year’s presidential election; he’s dedicated a large part of his semester to encouraging other students on the Auraria Campus to do so, as well. Juan is the project manager for the “No Vote! No Voice!” campaign at Auraria, an initiative geared toward providing students with information and resources to vote.
In the weeks leading up to Election Day, Diaz has organized tabling events on campus that give students information about voter registration, Colorado ballot measures and the nearest ballot stations, including one voter station in the Tivoli Student Union.
“We have a right to use our voice. We have the right to vote,” says Diaz. “We should utilize that. ... In my personal opinion, we should focus on what’s happening in our country, but they should still vote for whoever they think would help those in Gaza.”
While the conflict in Gaza has divided students on their presidential vote, it’s not the only issue that Hellman and Nebiyu, both of whom voted for Joe Biden in 2020, have with the Democratic party. According to the two students, they don't feel represented.
Hellman and Nebiyu say they voted for Biden in 2020 to stop another Trump presidency, but have since been disappointed with the Democratic efforts in helping Americans rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic, canceling student loans and enshrining federal abortion rights.
“I had been sold a lie," Nebiyu says.
“I don't want my reproductive freedom to be used as a threat or a bargaining chip into voting for them,” Hellman adds.
In this election, Hellman and Nebiyu argue that their issues with the Democratic party over the past four years must be addressed so that they will “learn a lesson that they need to start representing us,” says Hellman.
That lesson starts by not voting for Harris.
“If you're still giving them what they want, which is the presidency and power over you, why are they going to care about your protests? Why are they going to care about your rallies?” asks Nebiyu. “Why are they going to care about your activism if they know that you're still going to give them what they want anyways, right?”
Hellman and Nebiyu say they are voting for local and state ballot measures in the election, but Hellman believes that even if Harris wins the presidential election, the Democratic party will continue to go down a path that won’t reflect the needs of the people they’re supposed to be representing.
Students like Hellman and Nebiyu are intent on teaching the Democratic party a lesson, but Robinson warns that the consequences of not voting might have bigger impacts on national policymaking and election cycles.
“Future politicians and leaders will predictably pay less attention to the issues and demands of young voters” if more boycott voting, argues Professor Robinson. Instead, politicians will rely more on the votes of older demographics who are more consistent, he adds.
Not only will politicians begin to care less about what young voters want, but candidates who don’t care about young voters will continually be elected because “if you don't vote a lot, voting patterns don't shape elections,” Robinson warns.
Hellman says they understand the consequences of not voting in the presidential election. As a trans individual, Hellman is currently on hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for their transition, and the insurance options for HRT would likely change under a Trump presidency.
Nebiyu doesn’t want another Trump presidency, either, but states that “whatever the outcome of this election ends up being, a lot of people's material realities won't improve either way, and, in a lot of cases, it will get worse.” They argue that whoever is elected president, Palestinians and minority communities on U.S. soil will remain discriminated against
“It's not, you know, our fault — the students and the organizers and marginalized communities — that Trump was put up in the first place. I don't think we should be the ones who are risking a Trump presidency when there are people who are readily and eagerly supporting him, even though his policies will shoot them in the foot," Nebiyu says.
Other Denver students have contemplated both the risks of a Trump presidency and the consequences of their no-vote on the future generation of Americans.
Chris W., an economics student at CU Denver who asked to only use the first initial of his last name, has been tired of “the extremism on both sides” this election season. He says he's exhausted from being pulled back and forth between candidates, neither of whom he trusts.
As a non-traditional student in his forties, Chris's first time voting was in 2000. Since then, he’s voted back and forth between the Democratic and Republican candidates. His breaking point was triggered these past few months, and he initially claimed that his voting streak was over: “I don't want to be for or against any candidate. I don't want to be for or against any person voting for any candidate. I just want to bring reasonability to the situation, and hopefully, things balance out," he said when originally contacted by Westword.
However, shortly after his interview, Chris says he has "reflected on many things I said and things I have been thinking," and decided to participate in the presidential election by voting for Kamala Harris. According to Chris, he voted for Harris because of "women's reproductive rights and the Supreme Court judges that would be put in place under Trump."
