(Nov. 23, 2010) — On Nov. 2 , Californians passed Proposition 25, a proposition that would allow California’s legislature to pass a state budget with a simple majority vote instead of the two-thirds vote that they needed in prior years. This proposition was important because passing it would mean forcing the legislature to come up with a budget on time or risk losing their pay. However in a state of around 36 million people, only six million showed up to vote and out of those, only about five percent were between the ages of 18 and 24. One reason that some students choose not to vote is they have a belief that the entire system is corrupt. They believe that regardless of who they would vote for, the result would actually be the same. “I think it is dirty and people aren’t honest on both sides,” said freshman Ani Mosinyan. A study done by Baruch College showed that the majority of younger voters don’t believe that their vote really matters. It is widely believed that regardless of what they vote for, their single vote will not be able to change anything. This belief, however, goes against the results from the last presidential election where many young voters managed to drastically change the presidential election. Some students also believe that it is bad to not vote, especially if you are young, because it is a right that other people your age are fighting to get you. “They should really exercise their right to vote because there are people that age who are fighting in wars and that’s the reason people that age have the right to vote,” said sophomore Janella Polack. There is also a disparity in the times when young people vote. A poll conducted by CBS News found that while in the previous presidential election, 18 percent of the vote was made up of those under 30, during the election on the second that percentage was reduced to 11 percent. Many younger voters chose to stay at home because the elections would not have as much hype, and therefore would not seem as important to them. Many times young voters would only vote for one candidate or on one issue, while not caring or not knowing about the others. This was especially noticeable two years when massive amounts of young voters turned out to vote for Barack Obama, while not caring much about the congressmen and governors who were running simultaneously, or this year where people came out to vote merely for Proposition 19. “I notice the big thing but not the small details,” said freshman Ramon Tumbyeon.