SARASOTA (WSNN) – 2020 may produce historic voter turnout across all demographics. And first-time Suncoast voters are encouraging their peers to make their voices heard.
Two colleges, one goal: Educate students on their civic duty to VOTE.
“We’re lucky enough to live in a country where we have the ability to vote, and that’s not the case anywhere else,” New College of Florida third-year student, Daria Paulis, said. “And I think we should take advantage of that privilege that we have and go out to polls.”
“It’s a very tense, social climate right now, with a lot of issues being brought to light, and a lot of students are seeing this and they really want to make a difference,” Ringling College of Art & Design second-year student, Sarah Forest said.
Historically, young adults have voted at lower rates than older cohorts. So as a civic engagement leader at Ringling College, Sarah Forest, aims to educate other students to increase voter engagement. From online with #RinglingVotes to on-campus with tabling events.
“We’re doing as much as we can to reach students where they are since they’re all over the world,” Director of Student Volunteerism and Service-Learning, Rachel Levey-Baker, said. “We’ve got some on campus, and some joining us remotely, and we really want to engage everyone as much as we can.”
Director of Student Volunteerism and Service-Learning, Rachel Levey-Baker says students are more driven to vote this year.
“Compared to previous elections, I’ve had a lot more students saying they’ve already voted,” Levey-Baker said.
New College also has a Campus Votes project. Paulis did her duty already. Now, she’s turning the table and encouraging others to vote.
“The more and more people who say that one vote doesn’t make a difference, those people add up,” Paulis said. “And then it ends up being a much larger [group] of people who said that, ‘Oh, one vote doesn’t matter.” When hundreds of people have that opinion, that becomes hundreds of votes that aren’t being counted when they could be.”
Paulis says the presidential race sets the tone for the country these next four years.
“It’s not just about how it affects your life every day, but how it affects the rest of the country and the rest of the world,” Paulis said.
“Every vote matters and if you want to make a difference, you have to start in your community,” Forrest said.
And of course, the ballot has more than just the presidential race. There are local, regional and statewide issues on the ballot too.
