Wingate students eager to have their say by voting this fall

by Chuck Gordon

Dr. Chelsea Kaufman impresses upon her students the importance of voting by pointing out all the ways that government affects each of us, even from the time we wake up in the morning.

"Think about some of the first things you do in the morning: wake up and brush your teeth or take a shower," she says. "Who provides that water? Usually city or county government. Who regulates what's in things like toothpaste and soap and shampoo? The federal government. Every level of government is impacting you basically right away."

Luckily, Kaufman, associate professor of political science at Wingate, is communicating with a receptive group of students - even those who aren't in her classes. With the general election just over a month away, on Thursday she held a Lyceum over Zoom in which she told nearly 200 students how to register to vote and how to get unbiased, nonpartisan information about the candidates.

In early September, Kaufman, Dr. Joseph Ellis and Dr. Jake Wobig had to move their Lyceum on the Electoral College from the 176-seat Plyler-Griffin Recital Hall to the 554-seat McGee Theatre to accommodate all the interested students.

Wingate students register to vote at a rate higher than the national average for college students, and in presidential elections, Wingate students typically vote at just about the same rate as the national average, according to the National Study of Learning, Voting and Engagement. And that national rate is rising. "In the past, young people barely voted," Kaufman says. "Young people today are voting almost as much as the next generation older, people in their 30s."

That level of engagement is heartening to Kaufman, who understands that, as a high school student in the mid-2000s who was already interested in making political science a career, she was atypical. She's glad to be here now to help guide a more-engaged generation through the process.

"We live in an era where there's a lot of information to process, and the stakes seem really high," she says. "People worry about the other side, whichever side is the 'other' from them, winning, but at the same time, a lot of students don't know how to sort through all of this information that's thrown at us through social media and in the news, and so they feel pretty overwhelmed."

Step No. 1, Kaufman says, is to register to vote. On Thursday she gave instructions on how to register, how to vote absentee, and what the process of voting will look like if the student chooses to vote in person. She says that for North Carolina students, NCSBE.gov is the best resource for figuring out the voting process.

Kaufman is finding that there's a bit of a generation gap to overcome.

"I even have a slide in my presentation about how to fill out an envelope, so they can mail their registration form in," she says. "I've had multiple people come to my office and ask how to do it."

"Whether you think about it or not, the government impacts your life basically every second of the day."

Once the student has registered to vote and has learned the ins and outs of casting a ballot, the next step is figuring out whom to vote for. For that, Kaufman offers a trio of websites that provide important nonpartisan information about the candidates: Vote411.org, Ballotpedia.org, and YouCanVote.org. The last of these is designed to inform students about why college students should vote.

For Kaufman, the answer is simple: Government entities at all levels set the laws you live by and the regulations that affect your life. Some students, she says, are reluctant to vote in Wingate because they see themselves as here only temporarily.

That's far from disqualifying, Kaufman says.

"I had a student say to me, 'I'm only going to vote for the president, because I don't want to mess up the lives of the people who actually live here,'" she says. "I'm like, 'On the one hand I understand that perspective, but keep in mind, you are living here for four years. You are driving on our roads. You are paying our sales taxes. What if you stay here and get married and have children? They're going to go to these schools.'"

As another example, Kaufman points to the recent catastrophic flooding in western North Carolina brought on by Hurricane Helene.

"Right now we have this natural disaster out west," she says. "A lot of that is being managed by a combination of state, local and national government. You have the FEMA assistance that people think about, but also county governments, their fire departments, their police departments, the National Guard - they're all there helping out. Who is going to be rebuilding those roads? Who is going to be helping people relocate? Who is going to be distributing aid? All of those levels of government."

College students are also greatly affected by funding levels for student loans and grants set by state and federal governments. And in a few years, Kaufman says, these students will be paying taxes.

"Whether you think about it or not," she says, "the government impacts your life basically every second of the day."

To find out more about the voting process and how to register, email Kaufman.

Oct. 4, 2024

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