Students get ready to vote Nov. 5

The American flag flies in front of Weller Hall.

Photo credit: Nora Betts

By Nora Betts

Managing Editor

This story is featured in the October print edition of the Sower student newspaper. 

As Election Day approaches, Concordia students from various home states gather political information, consider the issues most important to them, and prepare to cast their votes in person or via absentee ballot. Deadlines for mailing absentee ballots vary by state.

If you are voting in person in Seward, you will go to the Ag Pavilion at the Fairgrounds. There are rules for voting in person in Nebraska — like you cannot wear campaign apparel such as shirts, hats, buttons and stickers within 200 feet of a polling place. Find the facts about voting at the Nebraska Secretary of State’s website.

Students are most aware of the presidential race between former President Donald Trump, a Republican, and Vice President Kamala Harris, a Democrat, but they are preparing to vote for state and local candidates as well as some ballot initiatives.

How are you casting your ballot?

Election day is Tuesday, Nov. 5, but some students voted ahead of time thanks to early in-person voting or absentee ballots.

Texas opened early in-person voting on Oct. 21, so junior Meredith Boster cast her ballot while she was home for fall break.

Students may vote by mailing absentee ballots to their polling places. Deadlines vary by state. Photo: Nora Betts.

“They opened (voting) the day that I was leaving, so we were, like, the first ones at the polls,” said Boster.

Senior Jason Kettelhake received an absentee ballot for Nebraska and mailed it in over fall break.

Juniors Alison Galchutt and Jack Hagan requested their absentee ballots for Missouri, and Hagan mailed his weeks in advance.

What are your main sources of political information?

Some students get political information from social media, even if they do not want it on their feed. Boster said she curates her social media feeds to avoid political content as much as possible. If she sees a political post, she will look at it but avoid liking or sharing it.

“If (a political post) does pop up, then I will leave it alone,” Boster said. “I’m not gonna deny it or like it, I’ll just look at it and move on.”

Some students fact-check political social media content with reliable news sources to make sure the information is true.

Hagan said that if he sees something interesting on social media, he looks at at least two news sources to check its accuracy. He said he considers both the conservative and liberal side of an issue.

“When it comes to news sources, I like to look at both sides, like FOX and CNN, even also Associated Press to get a little more neutral one, just to make sure that I get all the information, I see both sides of things,” Hagan said. “And that helps me to be a little more well-informed when I make my decisions.”

Kettelhake, on the other hand, does not trust either social media or news organizations to deliver unbiased information. He also said he votes in state and local elections based on what his parents tell him since they know more about the candidates than he does.

Podcasts are also a source of political information for students like Boster, who listens to National Public Radio and seeks out other politically neutral podcasts.

“I’ll look at NPR and then I’ll maybe go find the person that they’re interviewing on NPR,” she said. “[Then I’ll see] what other podcasts they’ve been on and go from there.”

Boster also listens to The Pour Over Today, a Christian podcast on Spotify which she said “removes bias and adds a level of ‘you don’t need to be anxious, bro, it’s gonna be fine’ to it, which I appreciate.”

A secure dropbox for ballots in front of the Seward County Courthouse. Photo: Nora Betts.

When it comes to political advertising, Galchutt and Kettelhake ignore ads on TV or online.

“I honestly don’t pay a lot of attention to advertising,” Galchutt said. “It just seems so polarized that it’s hard to know what to believe sometimes. So I kind of ignore that.”

Kettelhake said he is annoyed by political ads.

“I see ads on TV all over the place,” he said. “There’s too many. It’s every other commercial, if not every commercial.”

What issues are important to you?

Hagan said the economy is his most important issue. He said that inflation directly impacts him as a college student, so he considers candidates’ economic policies before voting.

“As a college student who doesn’t have a whole lot of money, the price of gas and inflation is something that I find important because it affects how well I’m able to support myself in terms of paying for not only necessities but also wants,” Hagan said.

Galchutt cares about pro-life issues, including abortion, family, and the traditional roles of men and women. She said she is paying attention to the Missouri ballot initiative Amendment 3. A vote “no” on Amendment 3 would uphold the state’s total ban on abortion. A vote “yes” on Amendment 3 would enshrine access to abortion in the state constitution and allow abortion before fetal viability or “to protect the life or health of the woman.”

When considering an unfamiliar candidate’s stance on abortion, Galchutt said she consults the anti-abortion group National Right to Life to see what candidates they endorse.

“I know that Right to Life gives out information about candidates who are pro-life or have historically made decisions that are pro-life, so I was planning on consulting that in terms of people I don’t know very much about,” Galchutt said.

Boster considers candidates’ policies on crime and immigration, which she said she grew interested in after taking the upper-level history course called Immigration and Ethnicity in American History with Dr. John Hink.

However, abortion is Boster’s top issue and the deciding factor for her vote.

“Those two things [crime and immigration] are things I look into, but the only thing I will make a definitive ‘I like that candidate for me, or not’ is their position on abortion,” she said.

How much have you heard about federal, state, and local elections?

Hagan said there is “easily a lot more information” accessible about the presidential race than state or local elections. Kettelhake said he knows a lot about the presidential election but asks his parents who he should vote for at the state level.

Boster said she is aware of the presidential and state elections more than local elections, but she said she wishes she knew more.

Galchutt said that she would likely hear and see more about her state and local elections if she were home. She said her mother is often approached by political campaigners outside of stores and libraries in Missouri, but Galchutt does not experience the same thing while at college.

Hagan said he receives Nebraska political ads more often than Missouri political ads, which are less relevant to him.

“I receive a number of ads about stuff for here in Nebraska and who’s running in Nebraska,” Hagan said. “I see that more than who’s running in my own state that I’m registered to vote in.”