For the past two months, senior and 21-year-old political science major Teryn Shipman and her peers have been pounding the pavement at the Capstone registering students to vote in the Nov. 6 midterm elections.
With the voter registration deadline in Alabama being Oct. 22, they’ve picked up the pace and partnered with multiple student organizations to stress the importance of students exercising their civic duty.
“Youth 18 and up make up almost half the voting population nationally, and because of that it’s super important for us to go out and not just register, but vote in all elections, not just the midterms,” Shipman said.
Changing the trend
In the 2014 midterm elections, fewer than 20 percent of eligible voters aged 18-29 cast their vote, according to Best Colleges. UA was no exception to this statistic.
Courtney Thomas, director of the Center for Service and Leadership, said voter apathy among students is high, but that trend can change if students understand that voting is one of the greatest privileges American citizens have.
“We had the lowest voter turnout ever in the last election with student voices being missing,” she said. “They could have been the difference makers.
“The whole point of higher learning is to teach them to engage in citizenship and be an active voice in changing our world. The University has really put an emphasis on that, especially in the Division of Student Life.”
Thomas said because American college students have never lived in a world where they didn’t have the right to vote, they see it as an inherent unalienable right rather than a hard-earned right that some people had to fight and die for just 50 years ago.
“Students have a voice. Their opinions matter. They are the future of our democracy. Change can happen.” – Courtney Thomas, director of the Center for Service and Leadership
Dr. Christine Taylor, vice president and associate provost for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, said her grandmother worked, paid taxes and raised kids, but couldn’t vote until she was 54.
“For students today, it is important to realize that life has not always been as it is, and there is nothing to say that it cannot or will not change and our country find itself regressing,” she said. “So to that end, we must be active participants in our democracy, lest we find ourselves being acted upon.”
This year, voting as a student at UA has never been easier and more streamlined thanks to the University’s new partnership with TurboVote, an online service that allows people to vote in every local, state and federal election that they qualify for in all 50 states.
Dr. Mary Lee Caldwell, director of mentoring, resiliency and citizenship for UA Student Life, said TurboVote is UA’s one-stop shop with the most up-to-date information for students from all 50 states.
“This is an exciting time as we’re entering in midterm election season and we want our students to be as civically engaged as possible,” Caldwell said.