Campus News

Voting in first presidential election brings out mixed emotions in UB students

registering students to vote.

Ben Deangelis, a volunteer with UB Votes, registers students in the Student Union. Photo: Laura Hernandez

By LAURA HERNANDEZ

Published October 31, 2016 This content is archived.

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“They want to be a part of an historic event. They don’t want to be sitting on the sidelines while others impact the future. ”
Ben Deangelis, graduate student and member
UB Votes

Jared Danzer feels cheated.

Jodie-Ann Mullings is conflicted.

Daniel Matthew feels the pressure.

With the Nov. 8 election just over a week away, these UB students will be casting their ballots for president for the first time. And for these students, as well as others interviewed recently by UBNow, the decision is not going to be an easy one.

For Danzer, a senior business administration major, the election took a disappointing turn when Bernie Sanders lost the Democratic nomination to Hillary Clinton. He says he was looking forward to casting his first presidential vote for Sanders, but now the election is far from what he was anticipating.     

“I expected my first presidential election to have more honor and excitement as we watched two brave, dedicated Americans try to make the country, the planet and themselves better,” he says. “As a strong Sanders supporter, I feel as though I was cheated.”

He says none of this year’s candidates — including Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson and Green Party nominee Jill Stein, in addition to Donald Trump and Clinton — has talked much about the issues he feels strongly about, such as ending private prisons, legalizing marijuana and moving toward renewable energy.

Currently studying abroad in Italy, Danzer has seen how the U.S. election is viewed overseas.  

“Many are scared but sympathetic because they have extremists saying hateful words in their countries, too,” he says. “They begged me to vote for Hillary in fear of what a Trump America would look like.”

Danzer does plan on voting for Clinton via absentee ballot.

Voting for those who can't

Matthew, a senior communication major, also is casting an absentee ballot. He says he is feeling the pressure to vote.

“I’m from Florida, so I feel like my vote definitely counts,” he says. “Being from a swing state adds more pressure to vote.”   

Originally from Trinidad, Matthew gained his dual citizenship in 2011. Coming from a family of immigrants and having been one himself, he didn’t want to miss the opportunity to cast his first presidential vote.  

“Having a leader who either supports or doesn’t support immigration impacts where I and others live,” he says. “I’m not just voting for myself; I’m voting for those who can’t.”   

Matthew feels the election is more of a popularity contest and nothing like what he expected it to be like.      

“It turned into a battle of who can get the most votes, rather than who has the best policies,” he says. “If the campaigns were less biased and less about what has been said and done, it would have been easier to decide who to vote for.”

Matthew plans to vote for Clinton, who he believes is more experienced and better suited to be president. Regardless, he is still hesitant about which name he ultimately will mark on his absentee ballot.       

“I feel trapped,” he says. “I know I have to make a decision, but I don’t know what decision is the right one.”

Mullings, a senior psychology and communication double major, hoped her first election would be stress-free, with a clear idea of who to vote for. That’s been far from the case.

“At this moment, I’m voting for the lesser of two evils,” she says. “I don’t like the candidates so I’m torn.”

Despite being unsure of who to vote for, Mullings says she is voting because it is the right thing to do.

“I‘ve always wanted to vote and now is my chance,” she says. “I might as well try to keep someone out of office with my vote.”

Mullings wishes the news media would report more on third-party candidates Johnson and Stein. She would like to see a candidate with strong plans for the economy, immigration and reducing education costs.

“I will look into the other candidates [Johnson and Stein] just before the election,” she says. “But I know I am not voting for Trump. If I could vote for Bernie [Sanders] I would.”

Choosing the lesser of two evils

Kate Ladera, a junior psychology major, is casting her first presidential vote for Clinton, even though she thinks Clinton may not be the best candidate.

“Many issues for which she stands for, or is trying to stand for, are things I agree with” such as abortion rights, gun control and Sander’s proposal to make college education debt-free and affordable, she says.    

And like other first-time voters, Ladera didn’t envision her first election to be like this one has played out.   

“I am honestly so disillusioned and embarrassed by this whole election,” she says. “I didn’t expect voting to be like this at all or having to choose the lesser of two evils.”

Although excited to vote, she is also anxious. Seeing how far Trump has come in the election has made voting a priority for her.     

“It is our job to make sure that the groups of people Trump is marginalizing so heavily are safe and feel like they are just as free and protected in this country as everyone else,” she says.

These students interviewed by UBNow are not unusual in how they feel about the election. Jacob Neiheisel, assistant professor of political science professor, says the students in his classes — like most first-time voters — are either unsure about their choice or are certain of who they are voting for.

“Some of my students are simply voting for the lesser of two evils,” Neiheisel says. “Others are really excited to vote for Hillary [Clinton] their first time out.” 

He says his students are concerned about whether or not the Republican Party can survive a Trump candidacy. They are also worried about the content of the Wikileaks emails regarding the Democratic National Convention’s treatment of Bernie Sanders, the candidate many of his students supported during the primaries.

Neiheisel notes that since the polls aren’t close at this juncture, students seem to be more anxious about the effect this election will have on future elections. 

“They have expressed concern about what this election means for the future of the electoral process and for the political parties,” he says.

Having an impact

But despite the varying emotions these first-time voters are experiencing, many see this election as one that will define the future of the country, according to Ben Deangelis, a graduate student in higher education administration and member of UB Votes, a voter registration initiative.

“They want to be a part of an historic event,” Deangelis says. “They don’t want to be sitting on the sidelines while others impact the future.”

Deangelis, who previously has conducted voter registration drives, says he joined UB Votes to help motivate students to register.              

“As an overlooked demographic, students have an opportunity to truly impact the future by showing up to the polls,” he says. “They could even sometimes swing local elections from one candidate to another.”

UB Votes, a small committee made up of student, faculty and staff volunteers, helped to register 1,438 UB students to vote before the Oct. 14 voter-registration deadline, Deangelis says.

UB Votes also will provide transportation to off-campus polling sites at Sweet Home High School for students living in Greiner Hall, the Ellicott Complex, the Villas apartment complexes, University Village at Sweethome, Creekside Village and Flickinger Court.  

Deangelis says the students who registered to vote “want to be a part of an historic event. They don’t want to be sitting on the sidelines while others impact the future.”

Reed Tighe, president of the UB College Republicans and a senior political science major, says that while this year’s election won’t be the first in which he’s cast his ballot, he feels it’s particularly important to vote this year.

“Our country today is much different that it was in 2012,” he says. “I believe voting is a duty of mine as an American. This election only solidifies my commitment to participate in our democracy.”

Tighe points out that while it may appear that most UB students are leaning toward Clinton, there are many more Trump supporters on campus that people might think. Trump supporters, he says, have been silenced out of fear of retaliation.

“Students are more trusting of Trump because of his genuineness, comparable to Bernie Sanders,” he says.

Regardless of which candidate students ultimately vote for, their votes will count on Election Day, Tighe says.     

“This is our future and it is very important for students to vote for the candidate that they deem the most genuine and who will build the best future,” he says.