Midterm elections in the United States are going to be held on Tuesday, November 8, 2022. They are considered some of the most important political events in the US after the presidential election. Midterm elections take place during the midpoint of a current president’s four-year term to select members of the House Representatives and the Senate. The political party which occupies the majority in this legislative group is also going to be determined through the midterm elections.

    The House of Representatives and the Senate have control over the essential legislative process in the US and could see the most change in the midterm elections. The powers of the House of Representatives and the Senate are  a large part of  the US government as a whole. Filipp Velgach, a history teacher at LFA, claimed that “[the midterm elections] are important because it’ll tell us with a fairly high degree of confidence who stands a better chance of winning the next presidential election.”

    As pivotal as the midterm elections are, they are relatively obscure. While the presidential elections had turnouts of about 50-60% over the past 60 years, only about 40% of potential voters voted in the midterm elections.

    There are a number of factors that may have contributed to this historically low turnout for the midterm elections, among which the most compelling appears to be the low media coverage. As Ambika Gupta, a senior, pointed out, “I think the most important reason [for the low turnout] is probably the lack of information and lack of resources. It’s hard to learn about [the candidates of midterm elections] because they’re not covered in the press as much.”

    In addition to sparse advertisement, another reason for the low turnout for the midterm is the Americans’ minimal voting awareness in terms of non-presidential elections. Velgach said that the American population has a  “really poor sense of civic duty” and went on to say that “Americans tend to believe that the election to elect the president is far more important than those elections that just select the legislators.”

    Velgach expressed that the LFA students are undereducated in terms of politics, which “is indicative of the larger country not being invested in this particular election.” When asked the extent to which he believes that LFA students are aware of the upcoming midterm elections, Akim Mpofu, a government teacher at LFA, suggested that he does not think that many “have an idea of when the midterm elections are happening,” later adding that most might not even be asking the general question of what the midterm elections are. In response to the current situation with LFA students’ awareness, Gupta said in her interview that she “would encourage everyone to vote” and “encourage everyone to do as much research as they can, even though it’s hard.”