Former President Barack Obama is urging people to vote in the 2018 midterms, and says sometimes these elections that take place between presidential contests are "even more important than a presidential race."

In a new video posted by ATTN: on Wednesday, Obama listed several unacceptable reasons why people don’t vote, including apathy toward politics, unrelatable candidates, believing “my vote doesn’t matter,” being uninformed, and not having time to vote.

“The last presidential election turned on fewer than 100,000 votes in three states,” Obama said in a tweet that accompanied a get-out-the-vote video he made. “More people go to Coachella. There’s no good excuse not to vote."

[Also read: Taylor Swift encourages followers to vote early]


Obama said this year's election has more women, LGBT candidates, and young veterans running for office, which means voters could change the landscape of members of Congress.

“So this year, more than any other year, you have the chance to change the face of politics so that it looks more like your own,” Obama said.

Obama also took a jab at lawmakers who asked Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in April questions that made it look like they had “never used the Internet before.”

“That’s because they haven’t,” Obama said. “Here’s your chance to vote for people who actually know what the Internet is.”

Obama noted that all states allow absentee voting and that some states allow early voting, which Obama compared to going to a “private Jay-Z/Beyonce concert, just without Jay-Z and Beyonce.”

Obama has hit the campaign trail in the weeks leading up to the 2018 midterm. Last month, Obama encouraged voters, including Republicans and evangelicals, to consider supporting Democratic candidates in the 2018 midterm elections and that they should be worried about the current trajectory of the Trump administration.