From left: Stefanie Reynolds, Prin Luis, Jordan Allen and Isabella Fernandez, all with NextGen America, register voters in St. Petersburg. Martha Rhine | The Crow’s Nest
By James Bennett III
She might have stopped you on your way to class.
“Are you registered to vote?” she asked.
Her name is Stefanie Reynolds, and during the month of September, she registered more than 850 people to vote.
“I’ve always had this thing for (politics),” she said. “I feel like it’s one of the most important things that you can care about. Why wouldn’t you be into it? Why would you just go through life and not care about the things that affect you every day?”
As NextGen America’s Pinellas County field organizer, Reynolds engaged with every single student that walked by her table on the Harborwalk, rather than targeting any specific group of individuals. Reynolds was able to register a considerable number of students, whose ages ranged from 18 to 35, in preparation for the upcoming midterm election.
While they support progressive values, NextGen is a non-partisan, issue-based organization. Nobody was turned away for their political affiliation.
As a way to demonstrate the power of their voices, students were asked to fill out questionnaires called “Pledge to Vote Cards.” The cards list a variety of different issues. Among the top-ranking issues were affordability of college, affordable healthcare and racial justice.
Of course, Reynolds joked, free pizza certainly helped attract people to her table.
As a former college student and USF alumna, she was well aware of the fact that nothing draws students in quite as well as free food, music and games.
The environment was a reminder that political settings aren’t always about rich men wearing powdered wigs and speaking in legalese. Sometimes, your civic duties are in the context of a free slice and some shared laughter.
“I had kids that were excited about a primary, a midterm election primary,” Reynolds said. “It was amazing and it was beautiful, because I’m a nerd when it comes to this kind of stuff. So when I see young people really getting engaged and stoked and pumped up about a primary election, it kind of brings a tear to my eye.”
As students from across the nation moved into dorm rooms and began their college careers, Reynolds was there to help them register and update their addresses for the upcoming November election.
To her, it is important for young people to have an effect on the policies that are being created because they are the ones who are going to have to deal with the consequences in 30 years, not the people who are writing them.
