Michelle Obama urges voters to "regain their power" at registration rally

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Friday, at a rally of voters, the former first Michelle obama asked a mostly young crowd from the University of Miami to "take back its power" and bridge the gap between the frustration caused by the political climate and "the action taken to address it".

After a celebrity program consisting of Kelly Rowland, former member of Destiny's Child, Erica Campbell, gospel singer, and Keegan-Michael Key, star of "Key & Peele," Obama has released a series of dismal statistics on the low voter turnout, especially in the mid-term elections those coming in November.

The Americans voted more than ever in the 2008 elections, but still, more than 80 million people still have not voted. Only about 40% of the population generally votes in the mid-term elections. Voter turnout in 2014 was the lowest since World War II, with less than 37 percent, she said.

"When a large part of the population withdraws from the process, why are we surprised when our policy does not reflect our values?" she told a crowd of nearly 5,000.

No candidate's name was mentioned at the event, any more than the political parties, Obama having stressed that she was not there to "tell anyone of vote". Instead, she was eager to change what she said has become "a dangerous cycle of voting" of frustrated people who get angry for political reasons, but end up staying at home without doing anything.

And she spoke to opponents who say their vote does not matter, noting that a race at the 2016 Municipal Commission in Cocoa Beach had been decided by eight votes. In South Daytona, she said, the mayoral race was limited to five votes.

"Five votes, you are all … Every vote counts, that's really the case."

Obama recently launched When We All Vote, a non-partisan national non-profit organization. The Friday event in Miami closed a week of popular activism with 2,000 events in 49 states.

About two dozen students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School wearing matching shirts sitting together during the event. Parkland students took part in a massive campaign for the registration of young voters following a shootout in February in their school, killing 17 people, bringing hundreds of thousands of people together. across the country and in December for March For Our Lives.

But we do not know what impact they will have on the mid-term elections.

According to an analysis by Daniel Smith, professor of political science at the University of Florida, on August 1, nearly 373,000 new voters were registered this year. He said that about 1 in 3 of these new voters were under 30, but he warned that it seems like a "natural ebb and flow" of people. voter registration that reflects the trends of previous years.

He pointed out that many election officials organize campaigns targeting high school graduates.

Stoneman Douglas alumnus Drew Schwartz attended the event and said he would vote for the first time in November. The 17-year-old said that common sense firearms laws were among the most important issues for him.

"One of the most important issues is representation and for people to make sure that their leaders represent their beliefs and do not defend their own interests," he said.