'I still feel like there's a lot of work to be done": Insights from a young voter

WNYC News

An estimated 41 million Gen Z voters will be eligible to cast ballots, about 8 million of them for the first time as they reach voting age. WNYC's Community Partnerships Desk recently teamed up with the group YVote to hear from young people preparing to vote in the presidential race for the first time. In this segment, we hear from Harlem resident Ma-Sadio Faye.

The transcript of Ma-Sadio Faye's story has been lightly edited for clarity.

Ma-Sadio Faye:

I'm 19-years-old, and I live in Harlem. I initially registered as an independent, and as a result, that meant that I couldn't vote in primaries. I changed my party registration two weeks ago to being a Democrat. However, I still very much regard myself as an independent. This being my first presidential election, I feel better now that Kamala [Harris] is the nominee for the Democratic Party, but I still feel like there's a lot of work to be done.

The economy is definitely a very big impact for me, social policy as well. It's very important how different governments or different administrations treat different populations in the United States. Immigration is also a very big, important issue for me right now. A lot of cities, such as New York, are currently undergoing kind of a crisis that I feel could be improved where we don't have enough resources to help the migrants that are in New York City.

Going past the election, I'm thinking of whoever wins; what is their policy going to be? I think I'm very concerned about misinformation in the election and the lead up to that, and also disinformation. I feel like they kind of go hand in hand. I don't feel like a lot of people who circulate misinformation on the internet are doing it knowingly. But I do feel like it's a bit disingenuous and I feel like a lot of people, they just kind of want to believe in something. So, if they see something affirming their beliefs, they're just going to spread it because, to them, that's their confirmation. I have a lot of hopes for the country in the future. I'm a little less optimistic if I think those things are actually going to happen.

I hope that one day, there can be civil dialogue, even if people disagree with each other. It doesn't mean you have to be anybody's friend or anything like that. I completely understand if you don't want to be friends with someone because you have different political opinions, but just dialogue.