MK Brittain | The Crow’s Nest
By Katlynn Mullins
While students elected new senators to Student Government last month, the midterm election also served another purpose: to gauge student preferences on presidential candidates ahead of the primary elections in 2020.
The Center for Civil Engagement included a straw poll as part of the midterm ballot.
Senator Bernie Sanders, D-Vermont, won the plurality with 41 votes, or 22.4 percent. Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, came second with 29 votes, or 15.85 percent. President Donald Trump came third with 26 votes, or 14.21 percent.
In the poll, 10.4 percent of students indicated they wouldn’t be voting in the primary.
“We hope for (the results) to contribute to the larger conversation on campus in advance of the 2020 election cycle,” said Thomas Gay, program assistant for the CCE, in an email.
“We’ve been working with a number of partners on campus, including Student Government, LSO, and student organizations (e.g. League of Women Voters USF St. Petersburg chapter) to increase efforts dedicated to voter participation and engagement,” he said.
The straw poll was a “longtime goal of the CCE,” Gay said. It’s one of several efforts the organization has made to increase student interest in voting.
Efforts have been made by the College Democrats as well.
Debates with Turning Point USA have helped to “bolster political discourse,” said Karla Correa, vice president of the College Democrats, in an email. She added that partnerships with outside organizations have made it easier for students to vote.
“With the help of the League of Women Voters, we plan to get every eligible voter on campus registered by the deadline for the general election, which is Oct. 5, 2020,” Correa said.
The two organizations will also drive students to and from the polls for both primary and general election days.
The CCE has also partnered with the League of Women Voters, according to Gay, and several organizations on and off-campus, to increase the conversation around student voting.
The straw poll was conducted in partnership Student Government and its midterm elections, which saw a lower turnout than last year.
The 10 percent of students who indicated they wouldn’t be voting, according to Student Government Adviser Bob Herron, could be for a number of reasons. Students could be registered to vote in another state or may not yet be eligible to vote at all, including minors and international students.
“It is also not uncommon for the primary to see low voter turnout across the board,” Herron said. “Several voters are undecided on their primary choice and reserve their vote for the general election.”
Asked how SG planned to involve students in 2020 presidential elections, Herron redirected The Crow’s Nest to Maria Starr, supervisor of elections, who did not respond to The Crow’s Nest request for an interview.
“SG can barely get people to vote in their own elections,” Correa said. “So my standards for their efforts to get students involved in 2020 are pretty low.”
“We cannot force students to vote, but we can inform them about the power that Student Government has,” Correa said. “We are in charge of millions of dollars, the students should probably be paying attention to who they are electing to be in charge of that.”
USF St. Petersburg’s chapter of Turning Point USA, a national conservative student organization, declined The Crow’s Nest’s request for an interview.
The poll was the first of what the CCE hopes to be many.
“We’re excited to continue working with our campus partners and other groups and/or students committed to turning out the USFSP vote,” Gay said. “We want to encourage USFSP students to think about the 2020 election, to consider their choices, and most importantly, to vote!”
