For some, there seems to be a blockade between the individual and the ballot box. If an individual has never been shown how to register to vote, the process can sound daunting and laborious, when in fact it is not. For this reason, there is a surplus of efforts to educate prospective voters.
“It’s not a fully functioning democracy if everyone’s voice is not being heard,” the President of Wofford’s National Political Science Honor Society, Pi Sigma Alpha, Rachel Canup ‘25 said. “We have to have the people realize the importance of their vote and their voice no matter where they live in America because to be a representative democracy. Your voice needs to be represented.”
Many people argue their vote does not matter and they do not like either candidate. The League of Women Voters Spartanburg (LWV) has been working vigorously to disprove and discourage these claims.
“If everybody in the blue state says, ‘I’m not going to vote because this is a blue state and my vote doesn’t matter’, then this might not be a blue state anymore, and you get some really surprising results,” LWV Voter Services Co-Chair, Ruth Stanton said.
“Research the candidates a little more than just what you hear superficially, and check on some issues that are important to you,” Stanton said. “You’re not going to find a perfect candidate unless it’s you. So try to find somebody that matches the most important things to you.”
Engaging with college students to encourage them to vote was difficult in the last presidential election because of restrictions around COVID-19. For this election though, organizations like LWV have been able to extend outreach to various campuses and universities.
“We want people to realize the importance of maintaining the democracy we live in. You should want to participate,” Canup said.
There is a nationwide discrepancy between college student population percentages registered to vote versus those who actually turn up to the ballots. There are two leading reasons for this discrepancy in students. One is trouble receiving ballots out-of-state and the other is not being educated on how to vote.
Although sometimes conspiratorially framed as a form of voter fraud, early voting and mail-in ballots are highly favored by Democrats and Republicans alike because they open up opportunities for more people to be able to vote. Citizens have busy lives or may be out of their voting district for college, so this allows for more people on both sides to cast their vote, who otherwise may not have been able to.
The hindrance many out-of-state college students face, which leads to them being registered but not voting, is retrieving their absentee ballot. This is because any person who wants to vote but cannot make it to their district polls has to mail a request form for their absentee ballot. Once that has been approved the individual receives their absentee ballot, which they’ll fill out, and mail back to their district.
“I know that there were a lot of questions from students ‘if I’m out of state and I won’t be back, how can I vote?’ so definitely we tried to direct everyone,” Canup said. “We had QR codes to Vote411.org with information on it to direct them, so they could request an absentee ballot or go ahead and register to vote and then request your absentee ballot.”
Vote411 allows people in-state and out-of-state to register to vote. The website also has each individual state’s rules about absentee voting and the deadlines for each state. People can also go to their own individual state voter registration websites for information.
Every American citizen has the freedom to vote for the officials who impact their daily lives. Regardless of an individual’s party affiliations or their beliefs, all citizens should be encouraged to express their right to vote, because it can sometimes be taken for granted.
“Growing up in Pakistan, where voting was not guaranteed, hard to access, and erratic because the political situation wasn’t always stable, just really makes me realize it’s important to have voting be part of what we do in America,” Stanton stated.
