Student organizers rally final votes before Election Day

Akayla Gardner
Tue, 03 Nov 2020 01:52:36 +0000
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In the final stretch leading up to Election Day, student organizers are rallying votes behind their candidates of choice up until the polls close Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. Credit: Christian Harsa | Assistant Photo Editor

Over the past two months, Ohio State political groups lent their time and resources to make headway for the Republican and Democratic parties in the battleground state.

In the final stretch leading up to Election Day, student organizers are rallying votes behind their candidates of choice up until the polls close Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.

College Republicans and Democrats will each dispatch about 50 students to polling locations throughout Franklin County on Election Day to pass out party-aligned literature. Both groups will use 6-foot reacher tools to maintain social distancing with voters amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Serena Ishwar, a third-year in political science and College Democrats president, said her organization is passing out sample Democrat ballots to voters in Upper Arlington during two shifts scheduled around normal working hours. Ishwar said since the university lifted restrictions on in-person student organization gatherings Oct. 19, College Democrats was able to hold its first on-campus tabling event Monday to pass out free campaign gear for Democratic candidate Joe Biden.

“As we’ve seen, young people don’t vote traditionally, so we need more student organizers to rally their friends, rally their groups so we can change that,” Ishwar, who is also vice president of Ohio College Democrats, said.?

Follow the latest from The Lantern on Election Day here.

The organization’s Monday tabling event was only the group’s second time doing in-person campaigning, the other event being literature dropping for Joel Newby, the Democratic candidate for Ohio’s 15th congressional district, Ishwar said. The chapter also joined a phone bank Monday for Desiree Tims, Democratic candidate for Ohio’s 10th congressional district in Dayton.?

David Kalk, a third-year in political science and president of College Republicans, said his chapter plans to send members to cities known for having a swing vote such as Dublin and Westerville on Election Day and distribute a list of Republican-endorsed candidates.

The chapter’s members have participated in several non-university sponsored door-knocking events for state and local candidates throughout the semester. Most recently, the group campaigned with Ohio Speaker of the House Bob Cupp (R-4) who ended his reelection tour in Columbus Saturday.

Kalk is also chairman of the Ohio College Federation, which consists of College Republican chapters across Ohio. The federation recorded more than one million doors knocked at the end of October, averaging 75,000 to 100,000 doors a week.

“I myself am not going to be able to flip the state of Ohio or a congressional race, but me and 1,000 of my best friends knocking doors consistently, yeah,” Kalk said.?

Kalk said the university chapter is also making phone calls to voters who haven’t cast their ballots using the Ohio Secretary of State voter database. Using a similar method, the chapter is doing an “absentee chase” for people who requested absentee ballots but haven’t returned them.

“We’ve done everything in our power and then some to make a difference and come Election Day, it’s out of our hands, it’s in the hands of the voters,” Kalk said. “Hopefully, the voters will like our message, and not just [President Trump], but all the way down to the statehouse and county level candidates.”

Emma Gardner, a fourth-year in Spanish and public management, leadership and policy and co-president of Ohio State Students for Biden, said several members participated in a central Ohio dialer event over the weekend. Following the lead of Biden campaign strategy at the national level, the university coalition strictly participates in virtual campaigning and averages one to two phone banks a week.

During the last three weeks of October, OSU for Biden competed with its sister organization at the University of Michigan for most phone calls every Sunday. Ohio State lost 1,432 calls to 1,737.

“It’s not a matter of changing people’s minds at this point, it’s more for that Biden supporter who doesn’t know when and where to go to vote,” Ishwar said. “Those are the kinds of people that we need to be targeting, reaching and encouraging them to get out to the polls.”

Kalk said there was an active Ohio State Students for Trump organization in 2016 but the group has since dissolved.

For College Democrats, Republicans and OSU for Biden, Election Day marks the culmination of months of hard work. Leaders from each group had one common message: “Please vote.”