Park City voters should start mailing in their ballots because Election Day is just around the corner. The 2017 election will take place on Nov. 7, and Park City will have the opportunity to elect a new mayor and two City Council members that will serve in office for the next four years.

Candidates Andy Beerman and Dana Williams are vying for the position of mayor, currently held by Jack Thomas. Josh Hobson, Mark Blue, Steve Joyce and incumbent Tim Henney are competing for two spots on the City Council.

Although the election is very important to many adults and a few teenagers in Park City, the majority of the Park City High School student body doesn’t follow local politics.

Students cited many factors for why many teens don’t care about Park City’s election. Some say local politics are boring, while others say they are just not politically involved.

Park City High School seniors Sabine Caplin and Dillon McClelland, for instance, said they were not aware an election was taking place.

“To be honest, I didn’t even know there was an election coming up because I haven’t been following local politics and I’m not 18 yet,” said Caplin, who stays involved by volunteering and participating in school clubs. “However, I still believe it’s important to include yourself within your community.”

McClelland agreed, but added that information about the election isn’t available where most students get much of their news.

“Most teenagers aren’t aware of local elections due to the fact that they aren’t being promoted in methods that are common for teenagers like Instagram or Snapchat,” he said. “If these local elections were to be advertised more effectively, then I think teenagers would have more knowledge about them and be more involved.”

Some students, however, have followed the election, such as seniors Wyatt Hudgens and Holly Moffat. They said the election can effect Park City’s future like national elections impact the country.

“This election is important because there seems to be lots of building within the Park City area and our open space is being limited even further,” Moffat said. “Although local and national representative are very different, they are similar in a sense that a mayor has to run a town in a sensible manner and make decisions that will best benefit the city, like how a president does on a much larger scale.”

Hudgens said that, in a broad sense, local elections can affect voters even more than national ones.

“I feel that local elections are more relevant, personal and central to the voters,” she said. “… Issues are more relevant to the people on state and local levels, and it is possible that these smaller elections could yield a higher voter turnout, as well, as more citizen involvement in the political system.”