With polls long closed, and ballots still rolling in, another election has come and gone. The result?

Nationally, Republicans took over six of the seven major offices in normally blue Pennsylvania, Maine opted to reject a same-sex marriage law, and the Rocky Mountain town of Breckenridge approved a measure allowing citizens to smoke and sell up to one ounce of marijuana; toke on Breckenridge.

Locally, a referendum was passed to ensure the rights of same-sex partners, public opinion of Tim Eyman was made clear, a grass-roots neophyte will soon be leading the city of Seattle, and a former county councilman trounced the new pol on the block for King County executive; a victory for nerds everywhere.

But hardly any of these races were won by the youth vote.

In fact, young voters barely made a dent on this year’s election results. Important political positions were filled, and initiatives and bills were approved or rejected as voters age 18 to 29 sat on their haunches.

Take Virginia for example, where the GOP swept races across the state, the very same state that confidently swept President Obama into the White House only a year ago. Clearly, the Obama phenomenon was short-lived.

Only 17 percent of Virginia voters under 30 participated in the state election, a startling figure compared to the 59-percent turnout in 2008. Republican Bob McDonnell was one of the only candidates who actively sought — and won — the Virginian youth vote. His strategy helped secure his win as governor, and was a nod to analysts that not all young people lean left.

“We knew all along that there wasn’t enough being done to reach out and engage young voters,” said Chrissy Faessen of Rock the Vote, an organization empowering youth voters. “I don’t know if we could have anticipated how low the numbers would be though.”

History has shown petitioning for the youth vote is an incredibly effect method in winning votes, Faessen said, though it seems few politicians strive do so.

Because Washington participated in its first mail-in only election, exit polls were nonexistent, and it will take several more weeks to determine precisely how many voted. Secretary of State Sam Reed predicted 51-percent voter turnout, but we will have to wait and see how Washington’s youth acted.

“It’s sad to think of nearly half the electorate sitting this one out, particularly when so much is at stake,” Reed said in a recent press release. “Your voice is needed.”

Perhaps our elders believed in us too much, put too much trust in our young voting hands. But I think we can handle the pressure. We just chose not to.

To be fair, gubernatorial and midterm election years always produce lower turnouts than presidential elections across age brackets. There is obviously something special about helping choose the man or woman at the helm of the U.S. political hierarchy. But after the large turnout seen during Obama’s campaign (53 percent of eligible youth voted in 2008), the numbers are simply pathetic, and killed the notion that “hope” had awakened a sleeping generation of voters.

Obama’s election was certainly thrilling, and I felt honored to witness the major milestone in American history. But when was the last time Obama’s decisions or policies directly — and I mean truly — changed your life? Have any of the president’s actions over the last year impacted your daily routine?

Probably not.

Local elections can determine how much it costs to ride the bus everyday, the accessibility to family-planning programs, and whether the government recognizes your committed relationship.

The Rock the Vote campaign sent out e-mail and text-message reminders before the August primary and registers new voters on their Web site every day. They also sent out more than 15,000 nonpartisan e-mails ensuring as many young voters as possible were informed on the issues.

But the result was lackluster. Young voters missed the boat, with no one to blame but themselves. Right now there are an estimated 44 million eligible young voters, but typically only a little more than half are registered for every election.

To me the biggest disappointment from our recent election was the young-voter demographic — my generation. We didn’t step up, and just reinforced the assumption that we can easily be overlooked.

The only way we can enact change is by becoming knowledgeable on the issues that affect us most. Don’t think health care affects you? Just wait until you’re unemployed or underemployed and have to pay your medical bills out of pocket.

Ever heard of the suffrage movement where woman like Susan B. Anthony put their lives at risk to earn the right to vote? Voting is serious, and it seriously affects you.

John Mayer’s popular “Waiting on the World to Change” Top-40 hit says it best, “One day our generation is gonna rule the population, and we keep on waiting, waiting on the world to change.”

So what are we waiting for? The world is changing right now.

For more information on Rock the Vote, or to register today, visit: www.rockthevote.com