When RISE for IUSA President Naomi Kellogg approaches each door, she knocks and takes a few steps back. Waiting for the door to open, Kellogg stays warm by dancing, often adding in a “whip” right before someone answers.
The door opens.
“I’m Naomi Kellogg — like the cereal,” Kellogg says. “I know it sounds corny, but I’m running for student body president.”
Kellogg hands each student a flyer, describes what the IU Student Association does and explains why they should vote for RISE.
Members of RISE for IUSA ventured into Stadium Crossing at about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday night — the night before elections.
“You’re going to get an email tomorrow morning telling you how to vote,” Kellogg says. “All signs say delete it, but don’t.”
Kellogg, Vice President of Administration Chesley Swann, campaign manager Libby Gress and congress member Michael McHugh went door-to-door asking students to consider voting for RISE.
With elections yesterday and today, the IU Student Association executive tickets campaigned both on- and off-campus to try to gain the most voters.
Going door-to-door the night before elections is helpful when trying to get votes, Kellogg said. It allows the ticket to explain the voting process before they even set foot on campus the day of elections.
“If this RISE flyer is the only one they have when they get the email tomorrow, they’re more likely to vote for us,” Kellogg said.
Waking up Wednesday morning, candidates pulled on their ticket’s T-shirts — red for Accelerate, white for REAL and green for RISE — and headed to their campaigning locations. Ranging from the Sample Gates to Ballantine Hall to Forest Quadrangle, tickets campaigned in all corners of campus.
All three tickets set up shop at Tenth Street and Fee Lane. As swarms of students crossed from Hodge Hall to the Arboretum entrance, ticket members would hand out everything from cups filled with pens and flyers to Hershey’s kisses and Starbursts.
Jumping up and down, REAL President Sara Zaheer said she was pumped to talk to students about her campaign. With the REAL Spotify playlist playing in the background, Sara and her teammates shouted “Vote for REAL!” to all passing students and cars.
“It’s fun to be out here with all three tickets because it forces us to be really energetic,” Zaheer said.
To get students’ attention, Co-chief of Staff Olivia Malone held up the REAL Wheel. Students could spin the pink and blue pinwheel to get free REAL products, such as a laptop sticker or a piece of candy.
“We wanted to let loose a little with the REAL Wheel,” REAL member Myles Markey said. “It draws people in and makes it more interactive.”
Accelerate created a Snapchat geofilter so ticket members and students who walk by could share their support via social media.
“The Snapchat campus story has a lot of REAL on it right now,” Accelerate Treasurer Kexin He said. “We want to get some more Accelerate on there.”
With all three tickets in one location, trying to talk to students could get hectic. However, He said it’s nice to all be together supporting each other.
“We all know how much of a difficult process this is,” He said. “We’re definitely making new friends and exchanging ideas.”
Outside of Ballantine, RISE and Accelerate faced off, standing on opposite sides of the street, trying to get more votes.
Accelerate Congress Member Kristen Knorr campaigned next to Ballantine, and said she hoped to attract more votes by handing out red cups with Accelerate’s logo.
“A lot people don’t even know elections are happening,” Knorr said. “If they have this cup and not anything else, they may vote for us.”
The election commission was also set up throughout campus, including the Indiana Memorial Union and the Arboretum. This gave students a chance to vote in person instead of through email.
No ticket representatives were allowed near these polling locations so as to not sway voters’ opinions.
“We just want to provide unbiased polling locations,” said Savannah Wormley, the commission’s head of marketing. “The goal is to give people a place to vote that’s not surrounded by tickets.”
As she went door-to-door for nearly two hours Tuesday night, Kellogg said she reminded herself just encouraging people to vote was the most important thing.
After sharing RISE’s goals, Kellogg would tell those who opened their door to just vote for someone.
“Every vote counts,” Kellogg said. “That’s the most important thing to tell yourself.”
Although some ticket members were campaigning all day Wednesday, they’re still planning to wake up Thursday morning and do it all again.
