Fallon Deatherage-Bradley
News Editor
The ISU Law Club and Political Science Club, in partnership with Vote America, will be hosting an election day party in the Rendezvous Suites from 1-10 p.m.
The party will be fully catered with free food and drinks, vans offering free rides to the polls courtesy of the League of Women Voters, voter registration information, and political candidates will be stopping by throughout.
Students will have the opportunity to meet candidates, listen to them speak and ask questions.
“We just really want people to get out and vote,” said Annie Harrison, Law Club treasurer and League of Women Voters secretary. “It is the most important thing they can do, especially in this turbulent time,”
The Law Club started planning this event in Sept. after receiving an email from the national organization, Vote America. Vote America, under the hashtag VoteTogether, is responsible for election day parties across the nation. Since then, they have had weekly web conference meetings with Vote America representatives to plan the event.
Vote America focuses on engaging young people and minorities in the voting process, something members of the Law and Political Science Clubs believe are important.
“We want the young vote.” Harrison said. “It’s time for young people to take over and take responsibility for the country.”
According to the Census Bureau, in 2016 there were 245.5 million Americans over the age of 18 in the U.S. Only 157.6 million were registered to vote and only 136.8 million actually voted in the 2016 Election, making the voter turnout rate around 55.7 percent.
That means only 6-out-of-10 eligible voters actually voted.
In midterm elections like the one on Nov.6, the numbers are even lower. On average, from 2010 to 2014, only about 4-out-of-10 Americans voted in midterm elections.
According to the Pew Research Center, racial minorities and young people are far less likely to vote. 52 percent of eligible Hispanic citizens are non-voters while 51 percent of eligible Asian citizens are non-voters. Nearly 74 percent of non-voters are between the ages of 18-29.
A Tufts University survey found that nearly 20 percent of young people stated that they don’t know how to vote.
The ISU election day event is trying to combat this by giving people access to help with voter registration, a free ride to their polling place and an opportunity to meet candidates.
“It doesn’t matter who you vote for or how you vote,” Harrison said. “That’s nobody’s business. The main thing is that you vote.”
