Election Day is dawning.
This is the first presidential election that many Taylor students will be able to vote in. Yet many cannot wait for it to be over and some feel just too awkward to admit they care.
Nate Chu, director of international student programs, said the last election on campus was very tense.
“The last two election cycles were way messier and way more tenuous than than it is now,” Chu said. “So I hope that it's not because of apathy. I hope that our students, you guys, are engaging in this better - that Taylor has done some things in the last eight months to prepare better and just how do we have these conversations?”
Obviously, things have changed since the last election. It’s barely a week before Election Day; Vice President Harris and former President Donald Trump are the candidates before us.
Scott Gaier is director of the academic enrichment center and professor of higher education.
Gaier said there’s enough emphasis and rhetoric on the election that everyone is confronted by it.
“Maybe conversations at home, maybe conversations at church, maybe conversations with peers, halls, things going on on campus, things that we see in the news, (and) so forth, we're confronted by this – even if we don't care about it much,” Gaier said.
We cannot completely ignore the election. The election is confronting us in the classroom, our social media and occasionally the friend that encourages civic responsibility.
Senior Grace Timm said there is more anxiety and uncertainty on campus on whether to vote because students don’t feel like they have a candidate they want to support, she said.
“I think the general spirit among students is, ‘Gee, I wish this were over already,’” Tom Jones, professor of history emeritus, said.
He has not had a class where students initiated conversation about the election.
Though most voters have decided who they will vote for or against, Jones said, many are reluctant to share that information. People fear identifying with a candidate will only result in an argument.
When it comes to voting for the Democratic or Republican party, Jones said the majority of people are moderate, leaning a little right or left.
The majority of voters are not keen on either party or enthused with their choices, he said. Voters are going to be holding their nose and voting for the Democratic or Republican ticket depending on which policies make the voter feel most comfortable, he said.
Freshman Kate Poorbaugh has decided to cast an empty ballot.
“An empty ballot is still voting,” Poorbaugh said, “... it is still giving the parties information so that they know that you exist - you are out there and you decided that they didn't give you a quality candidate - it's not that you didn't want to vote or that you are not willing to vote, it's that they didn't present a good option.”
She said she didn’t feel comfortable voting for either Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris.
However, she knew she had a civic responsibility to vote. Voting for the first time, you are likely to continue voting in the future, she said.
“I am the very annoying friend who tells everyone to go vote, to register to vote,” Poorbaugh said. “I have seen a lot of my friends just fairly passive in civic engagement, which is understandable.”
While she doesn’t enjoy politics, she encourages people to still engage while recognizing that God appoints where he appoints people.
“God already knows, and he already has a plan for it, so we shouldn't be disinterested and dispassionate about the election,” Poorbaugh said. “But we also should recognize that this is not our first home. This is not our eternal home, and we do not have to put our identities in who we are voting for or how the election turns out - and ultimately - respect should be given to whoever the winning candidate is…”
We, the Echo Editorial Board, challenge ourselves and our peers to ask: Are we on the verge of apathy?
Do we realize that God is sovereign, but this does not excuse us from our duty to vote.
