
The 2020 election is just over the horizon. Everywhere you look, some aspect of the political world manages to pop its head out and remind you of the constant turmoil and anxiety its machinations can create. The partisanship that has seeped into this world, and this election more specifically, has created a seemingly insurmountable divide between people, voting procedures, and what the future may hold. However, some individuals have set out to bridge these divides and create accessible, accurate information into this world that has often become steeped into controversy and misinformation. Chris Harrison ’23 is one of those individuals. Chris, along with a few of his high school friends, have created the website, Impact Change, with the goal of providing credible information on voting and candidates, that is easily digestible for all. I got to ask Chris a few questions about his website and what he hopes to achieve alongside it.

There are a lot of websites out there, often very partisan, that try to inform people of political agendas, noteworthy news, and campaign announcements. Going into this, what was your goal to differentiate this site from others?
Chris: I think the ease at which we can receive and share information has played a huge role in motivating young people to get more involved in politics. Every time we go on social media we are exposed to politics in one way or another. While this definitely has some negative consequences, I think it has been very effective in motivating young people to get more involved in politics and go vote. It was actually the energy that I saw from others my age on social media, that motivated me to start the website.
Has politics always played a role in your life? Or is this new territory for you?
Chris: This is a pretty new territory for me if I’m being honest. I’ve always cared about the issues that arise in politics but I’m usually turned off by the divisiveness of many political conversations and the focus of much of the news on sensational but often relatively inconsequential stories. With the website, I was trying to create a tool that someone like me, who wants to get involved but doesn’t necessarily have the time or motivation to sit through traditional coverage, could use it as a guide.
The site has a goal of eventually having a page dedicated to every politician in the United States- detailing policing policies to climate change agendas. How is that process going? What plans do you have for the future completion of that?
Chris: It’s been kind of a slow process so far but we are making strides to reaching our goal of covering every congressional election by November. Right now it’s only four of us and we definitely can’t write bios for over 400 elections on our own. I’m actually meeting with HamVotes this week to try to get their help writing bios and we are trying to increase publicity for the site to enlist more people.”
It is critical that the voting process is as easy as possible, especially in this COVID era- Why do you think such a low percentage of young voters came out in the 2016 election?
Chris: I think a lot of young people didn’t really see the effect that politics and our leaders have in our everyday lives. It’s hard to see the effect our leaders can have when you’re in high school or college and that environment is essentially your whole world. Now I think a lot of young people are beginning to see the effects leadership can have. We saw that how our leaders handle situations like COVID does have a direct effect on our day-to-day lives. Hopefully, this will motivate young voters to have a much higher turnout rate in 2020.
Tell me about this Obama blog post you read and what about it struck a chord with you and helped fuel the creation of Impact Change?
Chris: What really resonated with me was the way he spoke about channeling the energy that a lot of us are feeling right now. He said that while protesting and making our voices heard were a great first step, in order to create real change we need the help of our elected officials. That all starts with voting. Since there wasn’t an election I could go vote in right after reading this, I thought I’d try to start something to help channel the energy into making a political difference. I don’t know how many people Impact Change is going to reach but I’m doing my best to try to make it something that can help make a difference in this upcoming election.
If you were to combine two cuisines into a new hybrid cuisine what would those two be? What would the new hybrid be called?
Chris: I might have to answer like a 7-year-old and go with ice cream and nachos. I’d call them icy nachos. Maybe it’s because it’s late and I’m in the mood for ice cream and nachos but that’s what I’m feeling right now.
How do you plan on getting people to help out with garnering information for your website?
Chris: I’m meeting with HamVotes to try to get their help filling in bios this week. We also have a form on our website that you can fill out if you would like to help us, we welcome anybody who would like to participate (although we obviously fact check information before posting it). We are trying to get some more awareness about the website through interviews and our Instagram @impactchangeusa. Hopefully, through increased awareness and with the help of HamVotes, we can get a lot of bios done in the coming weeks.
What can Hamilton students do right now, if they’re unsure of how to tackle the voting
process?
Chris: I’m a little bit biased but we have resources at
www.impactchangeusa.com
to help with the voting process. If you’re unsure on who to vote for in certain elections, our site is designed to help. It takes around 2 minutes to read about a candidate’s policies so you can make an informed decision without much prior knowledge. We also link to
www.vote.org
which helps you register to vote, check your registration, request an absentee ballot, and more.