By Judayah Murray | October 3, 2016

While African-Americans had an overwhelming voter-turnout, especially for the democratic party, in both the 2008 and 2012 National elections when Barack Obama ran for his presidency, 2016 is looking like it will not follow suit.

According to ElectProject.com, in 2012, Non-Hispanic Blacks had a higher voting turnout than Non-Hispanic Whites by about 5%. While blacks held about 75% in 2012, 2016 is projected to drop down to about 35%, lower than the estimated 40% for whites.

While there are many possible reasons for this significant decline in public interest in the black community, Solomon White, a 20-year old Black male from Ossining, NY explains his own issues with voting nationally.

“I personally do not want to vote in this presidential election. I mean, for one: my vote is not as valued as they say it is, and two: I don’t think I should be voting for either candidate. I don’t want to be the person to cast a vote for someone who has so much power and can cause destruction over this nation and many others. If I were to vote for a candidate, it’s because I believe that they are the perfect candidate for the job, not because they were the only choice that was there,” he says.

Although White is registered to vote, he is not motivated to pick the “lesser of two evils” during the 2016 election. He prefers to vote locally where he says he knows his vote will actually matter.
“Most officials that you vote for make legislations based on the people they are around. Presidents are usually around business-owners, most senators are around the upper-middle class and those that are local officials are moreso around the people that are within in the town,” he says, “and their complaints are tended to because it doesn’t take as long to be heard.”

While White has his mind made up, some other young black citizens are not as motivated to give the election much thought. Christopher Roberson, a 19-year old from Charlotte, North Carolina says although he is not interested in voting at all this year, he will most likely still make it to the polls.

“I mean…I’m registered to vote but I don’t feel like my vote matters. Both candidates are kind of shitty so it really doesn’t matter who I pick,” he said.

Roberson discusses politics regularly with his friends and family and even caught the most recent debate. He still, however, says he doesn’t feel a connection to neither Clinton nor Trump and wishes these weren’t the main options for the first time he is able to vote.

Natalie Collins, a 34-year old substitute teacher from Memphis, Tennessee recalls the first time she was able to vote. She was 22 years old and excited as she made her way to the polls. She says there was a mix-up with her registration for the previous election and they denied her entry to vote. Because of her struggles and disappointment in that situation, Collins set out to help others register to vote so they would never have the same experience that she did.

While she admits she is not happy about the two nominees this year, she still believes everyone should exercise their right to vote.

“I know that a lot of people feel that both candidates will bring a major decline to the U.S. We have Trump who is pretty outwardly evil, and Clinton that is able to blindside everyone. But we have to, unfortunately, put all that aside. Unfortunately, we really have to just bite the bullet and pick the lesser of those two evils.”

Many polls, including ones featured on Elect Project denote that citizens ages 30+ tend to not only be more involved, overall, in politics, but also tend to vote more than college-aged individuals.

Nikki Hymes-Kiesel, the mother of WNBA point-guard, Brianna Kiesel says this whole election is a pure joke. Kiesel worked for the government of Utica, New York for over a decade and is also a retired Correctional-Officer. She says her experiences have allowed her to see how “insider” politics work.

“I’m not even voting this year. Have you seen who’s running? Both candidates are idiots and neither one of them has poor, uneducated women, men–or really just people of color’s best interests at heart,” she says, “They’re self-serving clowns.”

It seems the overall general consensus in black voters for the 2016 Presidential Election is the overwhelming feeling of disinterest and disengagement.

The National date set for election day is November 8. Check out your local newspaper for more information on polls near you.