Local students react to Amendment 3 passage, presidential results

By Jazmine Knight

Several young or first time voters were left with mixed feelings after Tuesday’s election ended with Donald Trump regaining the White House and Missouri narrowly passing Amendment 3.

Missouri Western freshman Starlyn Hinkle believes that overall the election “could have been better.”

“I feel like some people should have voted and they didn’t,” she said. “The lines are long, but it matters for the future.”

Jason Blevins, a freshman, said he’s more of a middle man when it comes to politics. He says regardless of the outcome, he knew it would cause a big reaction from citizens across the nation.

“It’s going to be a real change how we see things because some things that have been beneficial to us are going to be going away because of dealing with the opposite side,” he said.

Though Blevins didn’t get the opportunity to vote due to an expired license, he said neither of the presidential candidates swayed him because of their far-left or far-right views.

“There was no real middle ground person. And we’re getting to a point in our country where we’re seeing more division than unification,” Blevins said.

Sophomore voter Nathan Gregg said he “sadly expected” the results of the presidential election but understands that the day must go on. This year was his first time voting in a presidential election. Gregg was drawn to the polls because of issues affecting people in his generation.

“A lot of the people in Congress and older people and they don’t understand times are changing,” he said. “We’re getting into the workforce. We’re getting older, so things are starting to affect us too.”

When it comes to Amendment 3, Hinkle says she had a friend who received an abortion because she was a foster child at the time, which is why Hinkle believes previous Missouri abortion laws were too harsh.

“If they didn’t have access to it, it would be really hard on them,” said Hinkle. “People shouldn’t have to travel to get health stuff done. We should have access to it no matter what.”

When asked for her thoughts on Amendment 3’s passage, Hinkle says she feels better knowing that women can feel safer and more open regarding their body.

Both Gregg and Blevins agreed that as men they shouldn’t possess the power to regulate what a woman does with her body.

Gregg recalled moments in history where women did not have the rights and privileges that they are awarded today, which is why he feels that he made the right choice when casting his vote.

“I might not agree with abortion, but I can’t tell them what they can do with their body,” said Gregg.

Blevins agreed that previous laws were just too harsh as well, which he feels causes problems when a woman’s life is potentially at risk. Blevins says that overall it creates complicated situations.

“It’s kind of like there’s no black or white to this. There’s like a little gray understanding of it because either you’re against it or for it,” he said.

Regarding passage of Missouri’s sport betting initiative, Gregg says the result was a bit expected as well despite not agreeing with the results.

“It just doesn’t start right in my book,” he said.

On the other hand, Blevins had strong opinions on the matter, raising concerns that Amendment 2 could cause corruption within the sports world.

“It’s going to cause a lot of athletes to become rigged or a lot of games to feel like they’re rigged because a lot of them are going to — like a lot of people — are going to try to interfere,” said Blevins.

While he supports potential benefits like money going to Missouri education, he says it will still cause many issues concerning fairness.

On Proposition A, again Gregg and Blevins believe there are pros and cons to each side.

“Minimum wages go up or people get money. So prices would probably go up,” said Gregg.

“It’d be like it never changed. It may look different, but it didn’t change,” said Blevins

As far as the future of the country, each student says they remain hopeful for what’s to come despite election results.

“Keep optimistic and be happy for the people who got what they wanted,” said Gregg.

“We just need to find out what’s best for the country, not in a personal or emotional way,” Blevins said.

Gregg and Hinkle hope to see more people exercise their right to vote in future elections.

“Wait for the next four years or so and just see how it’s affected them and see if it affects them in a bad way, in a good way to see if they vote next time,” said Gregg.

News-Press NOW worked diligently to search for insight and interviews from all political viewpoints. However, these were the students that felt comfortable sharing.