Once again, Western Carolina University is prioritizing civic engagement by holding a voting location on campus inside the University Center (UC). Early voting for the North Carolina primaries began on Feb. 13 and will continue until Feb. 29.
Jackson County Board of Elections members helping voters. Fiona Buchanan (left) and Karen Johnson (right). Photo by Benito Garcia-Garcia
The Student Democracy Coalition (SDC) is a non-partisan organization on campus focused on civic engagement. The organization has continuously worked hard to get students to vote. In 2018, WCU saw record-breaking voting numbers by students in part because of SDC.
Sara Mears, president of SDC, says that so far early voting is going well. She did mention that same day registration has seen some complications mainly because of stricter standards and the new residential addresses of apartment complexes. However, she mentioned that the Jackson County Board of Elections does a good job of helping on such issues.
When the early voting place opened on campus, it experienced the most traffic in Jackson County.
“The WCU One-Stop location was the most utilized precinct in all of Jackson County, and that is largely due to the students,” Mears explains.
The Jackson County Board of Elections Director, Lisa Lovedahl, reiterated that voting has gone well so far adding they’re using new voting equipment and laptops this primary. “Other than some little bugs everything is running smoothly,” Lovedahl says.
According to Lovedahl, as of Feb. 24, 306 people had voted at WCU’s voting place.
SDC and the Center for Community Engagement and Service Learning co-hosted Stroll to the Polls on Feb. 19 as part of their annual “Get Out the Vote” celebration which included free food and giveaways. Additionally, multiple organizations, candidates or candidate representatives were present to engage with students.
Representatives for Howie Hawkins (Green Party) and Tulsi Gabbard (Dem.) were present. Madison Cawthorn (Rep.) and Dan Driscoll (Rep.) were in attendance, both are running against each other for the District 11 seat on the US House of Representatives. Ron Mau (Rep.) was present running for NC House 119. Additional candidates running for state and local offices were also present. The following organizations were there also: Democracy North Carolina, DownHome NC, Indivisible Common Ground, College Democrats at WCU, College Republicans at WCU and Students for Warren at WCU.
The polling place on campus is open Monday through Wednesday from 8 am till 7:30 pm. Go vote!
