Voter turnout is currently on the rise all across the globe as younger voters begin to understand the power that comes from voting. It gives citizens the right to choose government officials and express opinions on issues locally as well as federally. However, there are still many skeptics who believe the people’s vote doesn’t count but that is simply not true.  

The most recent and topical example of this is the USA’s midterm elections. Typically, during the midterms, the opposing party gains a significant advantage in the Senate and House. However this year, the Senate remains largely an equal number of Democrats and Republicans with a one seat difference and the Republicans have only won only 8 seats in the House. The last time we had such similar midterm results, midterms with little change in the House and Senate, were in 2002 and 1998. The reason the results of the midterms show a largely unchanged Senate and House is because of the large voter turnout, especially with younger voters, who tend to lean more Democrat. This was one of the highest young voter turnouts in the last 30 years for the US with around 27% of voters being under 30, about a 7% increase from the last midterm election in 2018. 

In the 2020 presidential election as well, voter turnout was the highest it had ever been in the 21st century in the US, at 66.8% of citizens 18 and up voting during the election. Even despite COVID concerns, voters turned up to vote and remove the incumbent ex-president Donald Trump by a slight margin of 46.9% to 51.3%. Many American voters were unhappy with Trump for his policies, his actions and his ideas and as such voted for Joe Biden.

Another important election was the Brazilian presidential race against Bolsonaro and Lula. It was a close matchup with 50.9%  of votes to Lula and  49.1% to Bolsonaro, removing the incumbent Bolsonaro. This was a shocking development as Bolsonaro took considerable efforts to stop Lula from winning including trying to allow government officials to manipulate election results and enlisting the military to pressure voters. 

All across the globe we are seeing a new era of voters and voting, who are making sure that the voices of the citizens are heard.