Votes make impact
Students turn out for midterm race
This year’s general election shifted control of the U.S. Senate from a Democrat majority to a Republican majority, changing the overall balance from a Republican House and Democratic Senate to a fully Republican controlled Congress.
Civic Duty — Students wait to cast ballots for midterm elections. Photo credit: Courtney Russo
Ed Gillespie, former chair of the Republican National Committee, was seeking a seat in the Senate during the November general elections. His race against Democrat candidate Mark Warner was closer than many expected, although Gillespie ultimately conceded defeat amid speculations of a recount.
Larry Provost of the division of Student Affairs acknowledged the impressive number of students who showed up at the polls, referencing previous elections, which saw less involvement.
“We registered around 1,000 people this semester, and 1,258 people showed up to vote,” Provost said. “We’ve done presidential, we’ve done gubernatorial, but we’ve never really had a large (turnout) for midterms. The overall student turnout was good.”
The large turnout did not appear from the mists however. Efforts across campus were made to ensure that students had the time and ability to register for the midterm
elections.
“I saw a greater student enthusiasm, and there was more information about the candidates that students were distributing to each other,” Provost said. “I think students liked having classes canceled as it made it easier for them to vote.”
Previous strategies were chosen not to be used this time around.
“In other elections, we’d registered students in hall meetings and in class,” Provost said. “We didn’t register students in class this semester for a couple reasons. We really didn’t have a lot of time to do it, but also we are just starting to rebuild the voter registration program again.”
The Senate races proved to be closer than the House races, with Gillespie ultimately losing to Warner by 16,301 votes. In the 13 House seats up for election across Virginia, two districts went unchallenged to Democrats, with two others voting Democrat. The rest went Republican.
Lynchburg City voters turned out in large numbers with just below 20,000 ballots being cast for the Senate race. Gillespie garnered 10,627 of the votes, while Warner received 8,284 votes. Libertarian candidate Robert Sarvis gained 461 votes, and 23 write-ins were cast.
Larry Provost, an official with Student Affairs, spoke of the importance Liberty students had on the impact of Gillespie’s campaign.
“Liberty’s precinct voted, percentage wise, the most overwhelmingly for Gillespie,” Provost said. “If our students had not voted, it would have been almost 50/50 for Warner and Gillespie in the city of Lynchburg. Our student vote had the effect of putting Gillespie well over the halfway point for Lynchburg.”
Liberty students voted heavily for Gillespie with 1,181 votes. Warner received 44, while Sarvis trailed behind with 31.
Liberty students turned out in larger numbers in the previous general election in 2012, with 3,266 ballots cast for the Senate race. A large reason for the big turnout during that season was the presidential races that were being conducted during the same time.
Montgomery Pace, chairwoman of the College Republicans at Liberty University, emphasized the exemplary efforts made by fellow students to inform and educate the campus concerning candidates and their values.
“The get-out-to-vote efforts on Election Day were the most expansive ever conducted at Liberty,” Pace said. “Over 50 student volunteers from the Student Government Association, College Republicans and other clubs on campus were assigned a shift to go to a specific area of campus and hand out fliers encouraging students who were registered to go to the Vines Center and vote. They talked with students about the significance, and several groups even went dorm to dorm reminding students about the election.”
Pace also talked of the extensive efforts made before and during election day as a final push to encourage submitting a ballot.
“Other efforts included a special tabloid put together by the Champion released the day before the election informing students about the candidates on the ballot and significance of the on-campus precinct,” Pace said. “Food was available all day outside the Vines Center. This was simply to attract students to the Vines Center, not a pre-requisite for voting.”
“Liberty University does not endorse candidates for public office,” Provost said. “… but we wholeheartedly believe that students should render unto Caesar and vote their deeply held values.”
Van Dyk is the news editor.