As we slowly enter the chillier, autumn months of 2020, we all have different things on our minds; they could be pumpkin spice lattes, sweaters, leaves, or even gutting a pumpkin to put a weird face on it. However, if you’re 18 or older, there’s something you may have in common with many others: voting. As some of us may already know, November 3rd is election day and deadlines for registration, and requests for absentee ballots are October 5th and 23rd respectively. In order to make a smart and confident choice in this year’s elections, we need to be educated and weigh a myriad of different variables, along with keeping up with various deadlines and developments. This is where a particular senior comes into play: Delaney Krieger. On July 21st of this year, she began her account known as Time to Vote; as stated in the account’s first post, TTV is “an organization created…with the goal of educating young adults on current events and the history surrounding them in order to increase knowledgeable voter turnout.” Luckily, I had the chance to speak with Delaney to ask her a couple of questions about herself, the organization, and its message!

Q: How would you personally describe the purpose and goals of your account?

A: Time to Vote aims to address the issue of not only increasing voter turnout, but ideally the issue of increasing knowledgeable voter turnout; people must understand the issues on the ballot and which candidates best represent them. Time to Vote serves as an unbiased, non-partisan source that simply spells out the facts, without editorials, and without name-calling. This is a source that presents the history behind the topic and that distills and simplifies major issues into digestible chunks for easy comprehension by young voters.

Q: So I know that you have a background in speech and debate (which is inherently political), but what other factors inspired you to start this organization?

A: There are many different causes as to why I began Time to Vote. Besides my own interest in politics, I noticed a need for a source that provided unbiased, non-partisan education for young individuals. With the polarization of the media today, it is not only difficult to understand the content written, but there’s an added obstacle of trying to discern the accuracy of the content as well. By combating these issues, Time to Vote aims to increase knowledgeable voter turnout.

Q: What was your initial approach to involve younger generations in the voting process?

A: The purpose of my organization is focused on increasing knowledgeable voter turnout; so while I believe that increasing voter turnout in general is an important message to spread, my organization focuses primarily on educating young voters. Many young voters- or anyone for that matter- do not want to sit down and read extremely long articles written with the rhetoric for older generations that requires extensive prior political knowledge. So my approach is unique in that it focuses on writing easily comprehensible articles with the rhetoric for younger generations!

Q: How do you gage the success of your account?

A: While there isn’t necessarily a way to track exact statistics of those who have been influenced by Time to Vote, the impact has been widespread. I have received overwhelming positive feedback from young voters from multiple different schools and even states. Even with the future of this organization still awaiting, I already view success with the message.

Q: What methods/resources do you use to provide unbiased information for your young followers?

A: Since the purpose of my organization is to break down current events into digestible chunks, I view research as the most important part of the process of writing. I research through many different websites, conducting informal surveys, or taking polls. I also include links for further research at the end of each article with varying viewpoints.

Q: Lastly, the most important question: if you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be and why?

A: Definitely a cherry blossom tree because I love the smell and look of them.  🙂

A big thank you to Delaney for opening up about her organization and inspirations for this interview! We hope to see you and your families at the polls this year, Knights (if you are 18 or older). Also, make sure to follow Time To Vote on Instagram. Use your voice and don’t forget to strive for the impossible and be extraordinary!