With the North Carolina presidential primary elections held Tuesday, students supporting their respective candidates took to the polls to not only vote but also campaign and rally for their respective presidential hopefuls.
With the closely contested election between democratic candidates Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama reaching a pivotal point, democratic students found a particular need to do everything in their power to give their respective candidates one last push.
According to Jason Lindsay, a senior in political science and field organizer for Hillary for President, several members of the Students for Hillary Clinton group performed a variety of tasks to remind voters to get out and support Clinton, as he said one of her main concerns was making sure voters knew that it was the day to vote.
‘We’ve been making a ton of phone calls. We’ve been at the polls and having visibility everywhere,” Lindsay said. “We’ve held events all over the place. We’ve had people at polling paces and street corners waving signs, and have called several thousand people to make sure they’re at the polls.”
For David Foxx, a senior in political science and supporter of Obama, his passion for Obama’s campaign led him back to his hometown of Sanford, where he “worked the polls like a glass of water,” by handing out information, talking to voters about Obama and even driving elderly members of his church and those without transportation to the polls to vote.
Foxx said many college students supported Obama in the primary because of his desire and ability to bring about political change.
“There’s something special about the way he’s getting young people involved, and not just voting but volunteering,” Foxx said. “It’s something our generation is going to inherit. Never before have young people showed so much interest, and it is important that we’re engaged and involved and understand our power to vote.”
Though Sen. John McCain already owns the Republican Party presidential nomination as the presumptive nominee, members of College Republicans still volunteered at the polls Tuesday, according to Emma Wahab, a sophomore in history.
For Wahab, though, a final exam kept her from volunteering, and many College Republicans are “taking it easy” from campaigning until the general election.
“I just feel it would be a little bit redundant to campaign too hard now because [McCain] has already won,” Wahab said. “We’re just waiting for the general election and taking it easy, gathering support and getting ready for whoever comes out of the Democratic race. Once we come back in the fall, it should really pick up as we get into the general election.”
And though the primary will move on from North Carolina, Lindsay said the efforts to support Clinton will continue.
“We’ll immediately begin making phone calls in other locations and calling other states to help them and make sure they’re registered in other states,” Lindsay said.
Foxx said he feels the momentum gained for Obama in North Carolina, as well as Obama’s message, will continue to influence college students throughout the country.
“More college students are going to continue to be involved and engaged,” Foxx said. “He will continue to inspire people to support him and vote. He’s one of the few people with the passion to bring about change. And he’s not going to pander like Clinton and McCain…That type of honesty inspires young people.”
