By Rogette Harris

People are very cynical about politics and politicians in general so when election day rolls around it's easy to forget the consequences elections have on our daily lives.

Rogette Harris (PennLive file photo)

We've all seen the vicious cycle.

Low turnout on election day, people aren't happy with the results, a march/protest is organized, and millions of people attend demanding change.

This occurs on both the left and right aisle of democracy. While I admire and, in the past, have participated in political protests, we must remember that although marches and rallies bring attention to vital issues and situations, real change takes place at the ballot box.

Recently, students across the U.S. walked out of school, marched and demanded action to stop gun violence.

Although impressive, the main question is if the young people behind the 'March for Our Lives' movement will be a political force at the ballot box this fall and beyond.

Republicans are skeptical. Democrats are hopeful. And outside groups that favor gun control aren't taking any chances. For example, organizations who want stricter gun control laws are spending millions of dollars to make sure young voters' passion and enthusiasm on the issue doesn't fade before the November midterm elections, when the Republican Party's control of Congress is tested.

Past voting patterns show how much work these organizations have ahead of them. Just 15 percent of eligible voters between the ages of 18 and 20 cast ballots in the last midterm election.

Still, the mobilization of young people following a shooting at a Parkland, Florida, high school has raised the prospect of a shift that could re-shape the American political landscape this fall and beyond.

"We are going to make this the voting issue," said David Hogg, a student organizer of the march. "We are going to take this to every election, to every state, and every city. We are going to make sure the best people get in our elections to run not as politicians, but as Americans."

Polls show that Americans are increasingly in favor of stricter gun laws.

By an almost 2-1 margin, they say tightening gun-control laws and background checks would prevent more mass shootings in the United States, according to a USA TODAY/Suffolk Poll.

Even wider margins of Americans say semiautomatic weapons such as the AR-15, which was used in the Florida shooting, should be banned.

The same poll shows that Americans do not think Congress will pass stricter gun laws. Fewer than one in five, 19 percent, say the odds are excellent or good. More than three in four; 76 percent, rate them as fair or poor.

Will these students be able to achieve their goals? With the number of people who came out on March 24th you'd think the easy answer was yes. However, the only way to change any policy issue is through the ballot box. If you know a member of the Legislature that doesn't back gun control, don't vote them back in office. That sounds easy, but it is extremely difficult to do.

In 2016, millennials were around 19 percent of voter turnout in Dauphin County. That percentage decreased to 9 percent in 2017 in the year where 10 judicial positions were on the ballot. If President Trump's election did anything it showed the importance of judicial elections.

"Either represent the people or get out," said one of the organizers of the "March for Our Lives" on Aprile 24. "Stand for us or beware. The voters are coming."

That was the same warning millions of young people issued during hundreds of marches to end the Vietnam War; during the calls for No Nukes in the 1980s and the March for Women held right after the election of President Trump. However, the young vote has failed to materialize when it counts.

It took eight years and a lot of protests to end the Vietnam War.

It might have happened sooner if young voters had followed through on their pledges to use the ballot box to effect change and get the attention of their elected representatives.

To be fair, the recent protests on gun violence have already spurred action on school violence.

States are beginning to restrict gun sales to those under 21, which of course is being challenged by the National Rifle Association. Furthermore, federal legislation has been introduced to help schools acquire panic buttons for classrooms to quickly alert first responders in case of an active school shooter incident.

If we really want to shake up Washington, the next march must be to the ballot box. It's the only way to put lawmakers on notice that we want them to make decisions for the good of the country rather than their political interests.

Real change begins at the ballot box.

Rogette Harris, the chairwoman of the Dauphin County Democratic Committee, is a PennLive/Patriot-News community columnist. Her work appears more or less monthly on PennLive Opinion.