According to the Public Policy Institute of California, Latinos and younger people represent a large number of the state’s unregistered voters. Kern Sol News spoke to three Kern County residents to share why voting in this election matters to them.

Monica Gentry is voting for the first time because she feels the community needs to vote, especially in this election, which can go drastically different ways.

Although Gentry, 26, had registered to vote years prior, she had never gone through with voting until now.

“I tried the last election, but I didn’t send it or something like that. I don’t remember what happened, but basically, it just didn’t end up going through,” she shared.

But this year Gentry felt more strongly about voting this year and told herself that she needed to vote this year.

“As someone who is a minority in multiple ways—being a woman, a person of color, a young person at that, lower middle class—this candidate will benefit me and many other Americans,” Gentry continued. “Especially being Gen Z/millennial, there’s always such a weird stigma against us, but I think we have the loudest voice and we need to utilize that voice.”

Gentry said she is interested to see how this election turns out. 

“Either way, I did my part and I feel good. I hope other people go out and do their part as well,” she said.

Odalis, who did not want to share her last name, is a 23-year-old Bakersfield College psychology major student and shared that this is her second time voting in an election.

“I think this year, most importantly, it feels like a lot is at stake, and I think, you know, every voice matters. It’s really important for people to get out there and do their part,” she said. 

Odalis used to also have that sentiment that her vote doesn’t really matter so there’s no point in voting. But she said she realized for her personally, that it does. 

“Whether what you voted on does end up going through or not, at the end of the day, I just feel like it’s important to get out there and try and do your part,” she said.

Odalis mentioned she was excited to vote for Luis Garcia, a candidate for the board of trustees. 

“I was excited for [him] just because he was an educator, and I think it does help a lot having someone on the board who was able to be in the community in that way,” she said.

As a Latina woman, Sandra Ramirez believes that Latino voices are just as important as everyone else’s.

“[Latinos] have to voice their opinion because if they don’t say anything, then how do they know what’s going on in our county, in our state, everywhere?” Ramirez said. “There’s a lot of Latinos here, and they need to get out there and talk about it.”

Ramirez is retired and describes herself as a stay-at-home grandma. She expressed that she is voting because she feels strongly about supporting a candidate who will genuinely look out for the middle class, and women’s rights, and represent everyone fairly.

The candidate she supports “looks out for the middle class, looks out for women’s rights…just everything that this person is going for, this is what we need.” She emphasized the need for leadership that will “look out for all of us, not just their group of people.”

“I hope that everybody gets out there and votes…hopefully the person that wins is somebody who’s going to take care of us for the next four years. Who knows, it could be eight years, but hopefully, they look out for everybody and do what they say they’re going to do,” she said.