PORT TOWNSEND — Regardless of its outcome, the 2016 presidential election will draw a greater percentage of young people into the political process than in the past, according to an elected at-large delegate to the Democratic National Convention.
Ryan McAllister, 28, who lives in Discovery Bay, is one of only 10 at-large delegates selected from throughout the state at the convention in Tacoma on June 19 to vote at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, set July 25-28.
“With the popularity of Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump, people have shown they want a non-establishment person, someone who does not represent the status quo,” said McAllister, who is pledged to Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, on the first ballot.
“That is a good thing right now because both candidates are calling on young people to get involved,” McAllister added.
McAllister works as an emergency room technician at Harrison Medical Center in Silverdale and is a part-time student preparing to apply for a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program in 2018.
He has worked in the past for East Jefferson Fire-Rescue.
He said he has been politically aware for much of his life and voted twice for Barack Obama for president but was not as excited about those elections as he is this year.
Sanders, he said, has energized and enthused him.
“Bernie Sanders is challenging me to become more personally involved in the political process,” he said.
“He has said that he only can do so much if he becomes president, and he is making us responsible for our democracy and inviting us to change it from the inside.”
McAllister affiliates himself with the millennial generation, loosely defined as those who were born between 1980 and 2000.
Many millennials haven’t become involved in politics — or even voted — because they didn’t see the point, McAllister said.
“A lot of young people don’t believe these issues will affect them and their voice doesn’t count,” he said.
“If you want your voice to count, you have to get involved in the process,” he said.
“Half the battle is just showing up.”
Sanders has said he does not expect the nomination. His current priority is the Democratic Party’s ratification of a progressive platform.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is the Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee, with some Sanders supporters saying they will vote for her to prevent Republican Donald Trump’s election.
McAllister hasn’t made a decision about this, although he said he doesn’t see himself abstaining from the election.
“I’m waiting to see what happens with the platform and what [Trump and Clinton] look like when they are on stage together,” McAllister said.
“I’m not a ‘never Hillary’ person, but I want to wait and see how it plays out.”
McAllister is one of four elected delegates from the North Olympic Peninsula attending the Democratic National Convention.
Jeff Engels of Port Townsend and Jessica Hernandez of Port Angeles are Sanders delegates, while Julie Johnson of Neah Bay will be a Clinton delegate.
All convention delegates were chosen by delegates representing Democratic precinct caucuses in Clallam, Jefferson, Kitsap, Grays Harbor and Pierce counties, officials said.
No North Olympic Peninsula residents were elected to be delegates to the July 18-21 Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
________
Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
