WEBVTT 00:01.333 --> 00:02.833 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% JUDY WOODRUFF: Both presidential candidates agree 00:02.833 --> 00:05.300 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% this is the most important election in modern history. 00:05.300 --> 00:10.300 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% But in most recent elections, about four in 10 eligible voters stayed home. 00:11.900 --> 00:14.100 align:left position:20%,start line:77% size:70% We talked to a few of the people who are not voting this time around. 00:14.100 --> 00:16.666 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% CLIFFORD GENECE, Not Voting in 2020: My name is Clifford Genece. I'm from 00:16.666 --> 00:19.133 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% Brooklyn, New York, currently residing in Denver, Colorado. 00:19.133 --> 00:21.333 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% ELLIE PANA, Not Voting in 2020: Hi. I'm Ellie Pana. 00:21.333 --> 00:25.666 align:left position:20%,start line:71% size:70% I am a Greek American dual citizen born and raised in America, but living in Greece now. 00:27.066 --> 00:29.133 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% RODGER WEIR, Not Voting in 2020: My name is Rodger Weir. 00:29.133 --> 00:31.700 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% MARYAM ALANIZ, Not Voting in 2020: My name is Maryam Alaniz. I'm not voting in this election. 00:31.700 --> 00:35.566 align:left position:20%,start line:77% size:70% ELLIE PANA: I would have never thought that I would not be voting 00:35.566 --> 00:39.400 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% or would even consider not voting. I never - - like, I have always -- like, it's my 00:39.400 --> 00:44.366 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% civic duty or it's my patriotic duty or even my desire. Like, I want to do it. 00:46.366 --> 00:49.433 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% CLIFFORD GENECE: This year is the first year where I just don't feel like -- I don't feel 00:51.333 --> 00:53.466 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% represented or heard. 00:53.466 --> 00:56.933 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% RODGER WEIR: I'm not voting because no one has earned it. No one has earned my vote. If 00:56.933 --> 01:01.900 align:left position:20%,start line:71% size:70% I can't have a candidate that I feel is going to actually represent me, then why should I vote? 01:04.033 --> 01:07.366 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% CLIFFORD GENECE: I don't feel like anyone is doing anything that's really going to 01:07.366 --> 01:11.066 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% create change and kind of bring us back to a place where we're not having 01:11.066 --> 01:15.300 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% these continual tensions and issues that we have been having for centuries. 01:15.300 --> 01:20.300 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% MARYAM ALANIZ: If there was a candidate that spoke to my concerns, spoke to my interests, 01:21.666 --> 01:24.333 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% shared my politics, Then maybe I would consider voting. 01:24.333 --> 01:28.766 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% ELLIE PANA: Because I am overseas and I waited too late in the game for an absentee ballot, then it's 01:31.333 --> 01:34.300 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% like, OK, should I get on a plane, fly to New York for a couple days, cast my ballot, and then come 01:36.833 --> 01:39.966 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% back? And because neither candidate inspires me that much, I'm like, I will just sit this one out. 01:41.633 --> 01:44.700 align:left position:20%,start line:77% size:70% RODGER WEIR: If we live in the land of the free, the home of the brave, 01:44.700 --> 01:49.666 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% and we have freedom to choose, then give me that freedom, give me the choice, 01:51.666 --> 01:55.833 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% instead of just giving me these two steaming piles of waste on which to decide from. 01:57.733 --> 02:00.266 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% MARYAM ALANIZ: This past year, there -- it's been a really, 02:00.266 --> 02:04.033 align:left position:20%,start line:77% size:70% really volatile year. A lot of countries are facing political crises. 02:04.033 --> 02:09.033 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% And, really, it's a lot of young people like myself who are really, really dissatisfied and 02:11.100 --> 02:15.433 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% are realizing that, like, voting is not the only way to make our voices heard. 02:17.866 --> 02:20.466 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% If we want to actually organize ourselves, like, we shouldn't cede electoralism as our only option. 02:24.166 --> 02:26.333 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% We should be empowered to go to the streets. 02:26.333 --> 02:30.833 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% CLIFFORD GENECE: I understand that there is power and there is a necessity in voting. 02:30.833 --> 02:35.833 align:left position:20%,start line:77% size:70% But if I know that voting has no impact on what I want for change, 02:37.766 --> 02:41.066 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% then it isn't an altruistic act. It's just - - it's just doing it, again, just to do it. 02:41.066 --> 02:46.066 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% I think not voting and not participating sends more of a message to leaders that 02:48.766 --> 02:51.700 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% we're not happy. We're not happy with what's going on.