When I received an email from the Sandhu package room, my heart stopped. This wasn’t my usual bulk Ulta delivery. It was my absentee primary ballot. As I held a flimsy piece of paper listing the candidates in one hand and an informational pamphlet in the other, it occurred to me: I don’t know how to vote. And the worst part is, I’m not the only one.

Walking around the dorms, it’s clear that the impending primaries are the first voting experience many students will be participating in, most of whom have barely been given the tools and information to evaluate a partisan alignment. Given this lack of knowledge, it makes sense that nearly half of young Americans initially identify as independents, according to a study done by News Gallup.

“People who just don’t know enough are the people who say they’re moderate because they can’t really have an opinion if they don’t know enough,” said freshman creative producing major Mikayla DeBlaquiere. “I don’t think people should be forced to pick a side until they’re ready.”

This year’s election forces voters to submit a postcard clarifying a political affiliation in order to receive a ballot with presidential candidates attached or change their voter status. Should voters fail to select a party, they are unable to participate in the presidential primaries.

“This is my first year of even voting,” said freshman creative producing major Panna Warren. “I want to change what I’m registered because now the party system is very complex and since it’s already forcing me to choose a party, I might as well just affiliate with one.”

25.5 percent of California’s voters identify as independent as of the 2018 presidential primary, outnumbering the amount of registered Republicans in the state, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. Making up over a quarter of the state’s voter turnout and ever-increasing among young voters, publication Cal Matters argues that voters being forced to associate with a specific label “could leave a large, perhaps determinative, portion of the electorate confused and left out of the process.”

“I personally think that the idea of political parties is really counter-intuitive,” said freshman screenwriting major David Baker. “I get why it exists because not everybody can read up on every subject … but I think it becomes a lot less about this is what this group of people believes and it becomes more about just opposing (the other party).”

As political polarization reaches its peak, the stakes are higher than ever for choosing a political affiliation — a choice that many young voters are being forced into this primary season while they still can’t even choose their major.