As the midterm elections are coming up, the question on many people’s minds is will students vote. The ASUI is looking to make that answer a yes.
“We set a goal that we wanted every Vandal to vote,” Alex Call, the Director of Legislative Affairs for the ASUI.
In November of 2018, 21% of voters were in the 18-24 age range in Idaho. 2018, the last midterm election, was a landmark election that led to the U.S. House of Representatives flipping from a Republican-majority to Democratic.
As such, the ASUI has decided to put in as much effort as possible that not only every vandal votes, but that they can do it successfully.
The ASUI committee is leading multiple initiatives to that end. They are firstly going to be posted outside the on-campus poling location to help students ensure they are ready to vote.
“I kind of had to jump through a bunch of hoops last year because I was registered in Ada County,” Call said. He wants to make sure everyone else is ready to vote.
The ASUI senators will also be driving Vandal Golf Golf Carts around to help people get to the polls and spreading the word.
The senators are planning to drive around campus from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., looking for students that they can pick up and take to the polling location on campus.
The on-campus polling location is the Student Recreation Center, which will serve most students living on campus. Students can check their polling location on the Idaho Secretary of States’ website.
“We’ve really spread the word this year, and we just want to make sure that people have their voice,” Call said. “People should participate because it is people’s civic duty, and it’s really important to uphold democracy.”
Looking forward to the rest of the semester, the ASUI is also planning on bringing back their legislative ambassadors’ program back. The program selects one University of Idaho student from each legislative district in Idaho and brings them down to Boise to advocate for the university and its students.
“We’re going to start pushing applications out for that very soon,” Call said.
More information on who is on the ballot and what is being voted on can be found at Vote411.org, where candidates have put their information on their stances in the upcoming election. For more information on future ASUI initiatives, look at their Instagram page.
Abigail Spencer can be reached at [email protected] or on twitter @ABairdSpencer