The elections on Tuesday Nov. 6 have received increased attention from students due to controversy surrounding the Trump administration. Members of the college community continue to emphasize the importance of student participation in elections through programming, posters and events.
The college’s three Andrew Goodman Vote Everywhere Ambassadors—whose purpose is to promote and encourage student voting—have spent the semester creating signage directing students to vote on Nov. 6. They have also hosted events that showcase the candidates for election or help students register to vote, according to Vote Everywhere Ambassador senior Patrick Buckley.
On Election Day, they plan to hold a “Party at the Polls” near the on-campus polling site in Kuhl Gymnasium to remind people to vote, Buckley said.
“The goal is to get people to see [reminders] more than once,” Buckley said. “We know it’s annoying, but a lot of people have complained that they don’t know when elections are … and we don’t want that to be the reason why someone doesn’t vote.”
Over the Fall 2018 semester, approximately 1,000 students registered to vote through the Geneseo Opportunities for Leadership Development program’s various engagement initiatives, Buckley said. Beyond those numbers, students have also registered to vote by themselves or have continued their registrations from previous years.
Over the two days that Vote Everywhere Ambassadors helped people apply for absentee ballots, around 200 students came for assistance, according to Buckley. Vote Everywhere Ambassador senior Leah Christman connected the influx of students who plan to vote to a growing interest in politics.
“Everything [in my classes] ends up being politically relevant in some way, so people seem to be more engaged [in the election] and they talk about wanting to get an absentee ballot which they might not have even thought to before,” Christman said. “My hope is that people actually start to care about things like politics, which might otherwise seem like a bland topic . . . I hope that that gets people to come out and vote.”
Buckley feels that the passion in this election reflects a different level of engagement compared to similar elections
“In general, I’ve seen passion from a lot of people,” Buckley said. “People have very specific issues that they’ll come to us and say, ‘I’m voting for the first time because this happened’ and that’s something we haven’t seen in past elections. A lot of people are also saying that this is the first time they’re voting since the 2016 election.”
Psychology major senior Lydia Babcock spoke about how the Trump administration’s policies have pushed her to vote.
“Kavanaugh’s appointment and Trump’s entire administration . . . legitimize and validate all of these people who have such conservative ideals in terms of social issues, saying ‘transgender [people] aren’t a thing’ or saying other problematic things,” Babcock said. “I’m concerned because I don’t know if other people who aren’t passionate about politics get the urgency of this.”
Psychology major senior Alexandria Barlowe similarly plans to use her vote to challenge the president’s problematic output.
“I feel how scary it is, especially with how influential [Trump] is to people,” Barlowe said. “He has a very extreme view and he can get people to follow behind him. He’s really good at instilling hate in people and it’s scary. The whole administration is bullshit and they need to get out as soon as a possible.”
Where some young people struggle to register to vote, Babcock feels that the college’s voter engagement has made things easier.
“I think it’s been very productive having students easily be able to register to vote, especially because the government kind of oppresses college students in the elections by making it more difficult to register through absentee ballots,” Babcock said. “Here, it’s two seconds and someone’s willing to help you.”
While many students vote in their home district, the Congressional election between Republican Chris Collins and Democrat Nate McMurray has inspired some students to pay attention to Geneseo politics.
A Siena College/The New York Times poll from Oct. 29 found that Collins had 44 percent of the vote compared to McMurray’s 40 percent; since Collins won the district in 2016 by 34 percent, the narrow margin demonstrates a change in local enthusiasm.
Buckley underscored this point to help convince students that voting is an important task.
“This is a contested Congressional district with an indicted Congressman running,” Buckley said. “No matter what you think, I would say that this is an important district to be voting in. If you’re registered at home with an absentee ballot, there’s a lot of important elections every