HAMPTON ROADS, Va. — Did you vote? Some eligible voters stayed home this election. Research shows voter turnout is lower when there’s not a presidential election.
More than 6 million voters are registered to vote in Virginia for this election, but there are some people who didn’t turn out at all to vote.
"Did you all vote?" News 3's Leondra Head asked a group of college students.
"No, No," Meridith Ketten, an Old Dominion University student said. "I didn’t do my research, and I don’t vote if I don’t do my research. I’m not a local, and I would have to drive 3 hours."
Politics
Election Day blog: Democrats win Virginia State Senate, House of Delegates
The students say voting simply wasn’t on their list for things to do.
Pew research shows voter turnout is lower in midterm and off-year elections, compared to presidential elections.
"If it was a presidential election, I probably would have made the drive home to vote," Reagan Barker, an ODU student said. "I’m from Montross, Virginia. It’s a big drive for midterm elections. Midterm elections don’t feel as important."
Some don’t have the right to vote.
News
Groups call for more transparency, accountability into Virginia voter roll purge
"I didn’t vote since I’m a convicted felon," Alex Convington, a Norfolk resident. "My rights have been stripped from me. Even though I’m a citizen and expected to follow all laws, once I make a mistake, society’s idea is that I no longer have the right to choose who represents us in government."
He says he spent 3 years in jail for drug possession.
"How does that make you feel, that you’re not able vote?" News 3's Leondra Head asked Convington.
"Inadequate," Convington said. "It makes me feel like less of a citizen."
In 2020, a record 4.4 million Virginians voted in November’s Presidential electionyear. Two years later in 2022, only 3 million Virginians voted, according to the Virginia Department of Elections.
Norfolk
Reproductive rights appear to be big issue for Hampton Roads voters
"Christina, did you vote today?"
"No, I didn’t," Christina Danaher, a Hampton Roads resident said. "Because I didn’t feel like there was an appropriate candidate to pick."
Danaher says the dirty political ads turned her off from voting.
"I did see signs everywhere where there was a lot of slashing names and I’m not about all of that," Danaher said. "I don’t want to vote for something like that. It’s dirty politics."
Several issues such as reproductive rights, crime and parents rights were key issues in this year’s campaign. But that still wasn’t enough to sway her to vote.
"I’m a parent so parents rights and reproductive rights," Danaher said. "I would like to have the choice in what I do with my body. But I still didn’t vote today."
