The community at Longwood University not only exercised their right to vote on Tuesday, but their right to influence others to vote as well.
From 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., volunteer faculty and staff took students to Y their polling places during the General Election. Around 15 to 20 student volunteers assisted the project as well by helping students get in contact with the volunteer drivers. A total of five volunteer drivers were available to transport students to their polling places.
The drivers included Associate Professor of Sociology Dr. Carl Riden, Nurse Practitioner Dr. Jeanne Strunk, Associate Professor of Mathematics Dr. Jackie Hall, Professor of Mathematics Dr. M. Leigh Lunsford and Associate Professor of English Mary Carroll-Hackett.
Lunsford coordinated the faculty and staff volunteers, while Carroll-Hackett coordinated the student volunteers.
By driving students to their polling places, Carroll-Hackett said, “This seemed like, to me and to Dr. Lunsford, the most practical way to help our students in terms of helping them actually understand and access the power of their vote.”
One reason why students at Longwood University may be dissuaded to vote during elections is that they are unaware of where nearby polling places are, according to Carroll-Hackett.
Lunsford added that another reason is that students may not know that they can register to vote in Prince Edward County.
This year marks the second time Carroll-Hackett and Lunsford offered driving services to student voters with the help of volunteers from students, faculty and staff at Longwood University.
Carroll-Hackett said, “Over my teaching career, I’ve seen a lot of young people doubt the power of their vote. I’ve had conversations with them again and again where they say, ‘My vote doesn’t matter.’”
She stated that she believes there has been a shift where younger generations are having more influence in elections, going back to Bill Clinton’s presidential election. She commented that “young people were absolutely a deciding factor in the election of Barack Obama.”
Lunsford said, “If you want to be represented in this democracy, you better be voting.”
Concerning why students may be disinterested in becoming more aware of the politics in their local, state or national governments, Carroll- Hackett said, “I can understand the impulse not to get in it. It can be negative. It can be really discouraging, but I also think that I have a responsibility not just for my own life, that if I don’t like something, I need to say something, but I also think I have a responsibility for all of those who come behind me.”
Carroll-Hackett said that the majority of the student volunteers were from her English 203 American Literature course.
She said, “When I teach American Lit, I teach it as the evolution of American identity, and so we’re constantly talking about our rights, roles and responsibilities as Americans as it’s demonstrated in the literature historically," Lunsford said, "Every vote counts."
On the younger generation of voters, Carroll-Hackett said, "VIrginia belongs to them, and they have the right and responsibility to vote, to exercise their power, to use their voice. People their age during the 1960s stopped a world, changed the world. I think it’s their turn.”
Students Semein Washington and Madison Miller help faculty and staff drivers by gathering outside of Janet D. Greenwood Library to notify students about rides to the nearest polling places in the Farmville area.
