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<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nOn campus, Inez Johnson \u201825 is up and ready to tackle the day. It\u2019s 6:30am, and she\u2019s setting up the \u201cGet Out the Vote ” display in front of Commons for the Bates Votes team. The goal on Election Day is simple: Encourage students who haven’t already done so to vote in the 2022 midterm elections. The team has already worked hard to support students who voted early or in other states, and now it is time to Get Out the Vote in Lewiston.<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nAt 7am our first tabling shift arrives, with Khadeeja Qureshi \u201823, Elizabeth Gramley \u201825, and Oyuka Lyndon \u201825. Signs are set up, balloons are inflated, and they ask students if they have a plan to vote. \u201cPolls are open now,\u201d they encourage. \u201cYou can walk down Central Ave to the Armory, right across the street from Kal (and Post + Print).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nWhile students set up the table, I walk to the polls to check in with our Bates staff member who helps with student voter registration. It\u2019s 7:15am and Zack Brown-Cross, Coordinator of Residence Life, has his coffee in hand, and a big smile. \u201cIt\u2019s great to see this place busy so early,\u201d he says. Zack has the first shift at the polls, followed by Ronan Goulden \u201822, Nora Molloy, and Blake Reilly – It\u2019s a tradition for Student Affairs staff to help with student voter registration at the Lewiston Armory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Inez puts on a curated playlist of Election Day songs, and the music energizes us despite the 50 degree weather. Several students come by the table on their way to breakfast before their 8am class. One group voted absentee in their home state but want to grab hot cocoa, coffee, and \u201cI Voted\u201d stickers\u2013the result of a student design contest. Others share their plans to walk to the polls with their friends later that afternoon. Non-partisan voter guides are handed out to students who realize they could use more information about the candidates on the ballot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over the course of the day, hundreds of students pass by the Bates Votes table. We ask every student if they’ve had a chance to vote, and we answer questions about how to register at the polls and what to expect on the ballot.<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nPresident Clayton Spencer and Bates faculty members Jesse Minor, Susan Stark, Johnny Kurzfeld, Michael Roque, Erin De Pree, Bridget Fullerton, Kate Snyder, and Sam Boss visit the table at designated times to walk students to the polls – many of whom are first-time voters. Elsewhere on campus, staff from the Office of Intercultural Education\u2013Maria Mendoza-Bautista, Dri Huber, Shaula Edwards, and Mana Abdi\u2013launch walking groups to the polls. Meanwhile, Bates Votes team members Ethan Chan \u201825, Noah Forman \u201825, and Marcos Pacheco Soto \u201824 take over tabling for part of the late morning and early afternoon, staggering their time at the table around their class schedule, while walking student groups to the polls every hour. International students Vyshu Viju \u201826 and Alan Wang \u201824 get involved talking to students about voting because they don\u2019t have that right here in the United States. Natalia Jacobs \u201826 and Emily Gonzalez \u201825 also volunteer at the table to make sure students know how easy it is to vote.<\/p>\n\n\n