With the election season in full swing, student organizations on campus are putting in every effort to ensure a smooth voting process for students this November.
According to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), only 19.9 percent of 18 to 29 year-olds cast ballots in the 2014 elections. Perhaps one of the biggest obstacles contributing to this low statistic is the accessibility of polling locations on campus.
“Getting students civically engaged at this point in their lives is extremely important because it allows them to become involved in their community and the process of government early on,” Undergraduate Student Government (USG) president Brandon Bishop told AZCentral.
However, through the joint efforts of ASU Young Democrats, ASU College Republicans, Undergraduate Student Government (USG) and the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office, ASU students will not have to leave campus to make their voice heard for the upcoming presidential election; the Sun Devil Fitness Complex will serve as a polling location on Nov. 8, 2016.
“When the county recorder announced its list of locations, we went into action mode and talked to student government and different organizations in the community,” says Austin Marshall, president of ASU Young Democrats.
This project garnered support from organizations and people not only on campus, but throughout the city. Tempe City Council member Lauren Kuby’s Facebook post about ASU’s lack of accessibility to polling places gained a lot of support.
“(Kuby’s post) blew up and went viral,” Marshall says. “It got a lot of interest and got a lot of people talking. A lot of people don’t know that we don’t have (a polling place). It seems like such a no-brainer thing. The county recorder responded saying there was going to be a polling location on campus. It was a big group effort that came together with USG…from head to toe it was a big group effort.”
This on-campus polling place will be the university’s first since 2006, but many students do not know about it. Marshall believes this is due to a lack of promotion and accessibility –two key factors in encouraging students to visit the polls on election day.
“There is an early voting location on campus that has been there for several election cycles now, but it’s not very well advertised and people don’t know about it,” says Marshall. “There are a lot of first time voters moving in to the dorms for their first year of college and they want to have the full experience, especially with the presidential election coming around. If we are to have an early (voting) location, it didn’t really make much sense why we wouldn’t have an on election day location as well. That’s why we had a big push on that.”
Overall, the new polling place will create an immense impact on students as well as the election results for Tempe.
“Thousands of ASU students will want their voices to be heard in November, and having this polling place open on Election Day makes that easier for all of them,” says Marshall.
