After weeks of campaigning for the IU Student Association elections, it all comes down to two days of voting. Supporters of the tickets tried to sway students on Tuesday around campus in hopes of gaining last-minute supporters.
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Hannah Kinkead had her first coffee of the day by 7:15 a.m. She set up voting tables and computers at 9 a.m.
Wearing a blue ribbon in her hair and sporting her Big Ten ticket T-shirt, Kinkead tried to flag down potential IU Student Association voters.
“Have you had the chance...”
“I already did.”
Kinkead moved on to the next passerby.
Kinkead, a candidate for chief of staff, approached students walking past the Neal-Marshall Education Center, and asked for their support and their vote for the Big Ten ticket during the first day of voting.
As students walked toward the voting location, where all three tickets were present, Kinkead approached them, asking for their vote.
“Have you voted? It takes two minutes,” she said.
More often than not, she heard back “I already did,” “I’m late for class,” or “I voted for the other guys, they got me first.”
Kinkead recalled her favorite student excuse for not voting: I voted yesterday.
However, she was encouraged by the number of students who have voted.
“At this location, everyone that I went up to and talked to ended up voting for Big Ten,” she said. “It’s been great to see students asking questions and wanting to vote.”
Sophomore Sheldon Albertson was approached by Kinkead, as well as other ticket volunteers, at the same time.
Kinkead compared and contrasted the tickets’ platforms..
The three tickets tried to sway Albertson’s mind, however, only one ticket took home the vote.
“That’s why I voted for Big Ten because they approached me first,” he said. “She was very assertive, and I liked that.”
Minutes later, at 1:30 p.m. an election day volunteer drove to the voting site, saying there was a volunteer who got sick and needed replacement at Wright Quad. One volunteer from the current location quickly moved to fill the gap.
Big Ten is able to handle volunteer issues due to a system of location volunteers and field commanders, who share election day responsibilities, and allow executive candidates to move about voting locations. These campaign strategists were up until the early hours of the morning finalizing plans for the election days, Kinkead said.
Now, the ticket’s fate rests in the hands of voters.
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A swarm of students pass at 2:10 p.m. Tuesday through the intersection of 10th Street and Fee Lane. The sound of a loud, buzzing generator fills the air, as does the smell of gasoline from its engine. There is little calm or order to be found in the hectic scene.
Yet Katie Tetrick, candidate for vice president for Congress for BtownUnited, maneuvers through the crowd, cell phone and radio in hand.
“Have you voted yet?” she asked people walking by.
She explained that executive communication came via the hand radio, while volunteers and everyone else who had questions were contacting her by phone, which she checked frequently.
“It’s really hard to manage everything right now,” she said. “It’s hard to constantly be contacting people, making sure computers are running, fixing problems and trying to get people to vote. This is madness.”
As another student approached, Tetrick tried to sell the ticket platform amid the chaos.
“Please vote. It will take you 30 seconds,” she said.
“I’m not registered,” the student said as she quickly walked away.
“People love me,” she said. “It makes you feel really loved.”
Tetrick said the key to getting voters is a friendly wave and a big smile, as well as a mention of the current administration’s achievements.
“I got you fall break,” she said with a smile. Tetrick is the chief of fall break for the current IUSA administration.
Many students vote without knowing exactly what they are voting for, without knowledge about tickets or their platforms, Tetrick said.
Graduate business student Janelle Dangerfield agreed with Tetrick about student voting.
“Honestly, yes, I would have voted for another ticket if they had explained their ideas to me,” she said.
Students also seemed reluctant to vote, Tetrick said, but added that once she explained BtownUnited’s platform, most students would agree to vote.
“I love it,” she said. “It feels great when you get someone to vote.”
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Extending her arm, flyer in hand, Melody Mostow is on a mission to educate the student body about reviveIU’s ideas.
“Wanna hear about our platforms?” Mostow, a candidate for vice president for Congress said.
Meanwhile, shouts flow from Big Ten’s table only feet away, particularly from one enthusiastic Big Ten supporter.
Dressed in green T-shirts that arrived Friday, reviveIU supporters sit at their table near the clock between Woodburn and Ballantine Halls at 3:15 p.m. Tuesday.
“Today has been a trial and error, but it’s our first time,” Mostow said. “It’s a learning experience, but we’re pulling it off.”
Mostow emphasized knowing ticket platforms to potential voters, providing them with a handout comparing the platforms. Unfortunately, she said, people who know about ticket stances are “definitely not the majority.”
She approaches these potential voters with a pitch and a big smile, she said.
“Our strategy is done and we now need to have a positive attitude and put smiles on peoples’ faces,” she said. “We’re not aggressive, but outgoing.”
Her favorite moment of the first election day was when one student voted for her ticket, telling her, “I’m voting for you guys because you annoyed me the least.”
Mostow is not sure about the early outcomes of the voting because it is hard to assess everything when she can only be at one place.
“You just have to control your own attitude,” she said. “We all care about the same thing but just have different ideas.”
Looking at the next day of elections, Mostow reflected on her experience.
“Even if we don’t win, its been one of the coolest experiences of my life,” she said. “I’m enjoying what we have left of the campaign.”
