If you haven’t figured it out from the endless ads, phone calls or texts asking you to participate in a poll on voting, the midterm election is mere weeks away. For Maine, this is a hotly contested election, with national attention being placed on the 2nd Congressional District race, the governor’s race, and of course, the race for U.S. Senate. A lot of times the rhetoric around elections feels like it’s just trying to confuse you, and as college students, it feels like there is so much else going on that you need to focus on.
Moreover, it can feel a lot like these races are being forced into every type of media we consume, and with a lot of it being inherently negative, it is understandable that people want nothing to do with it. According to FairVote, about 60% of Americans vote in the presidential election cycle, which is 20% more than the midterms that fall at 40%. So what do students at the University of Maine think?
Overall, the people that I am surrounded by are very in touch with current events, and subsequently the seats that are being contested in this cycle, but I understand that this is not the norm for most students. It can feel hard to find unbiased news, or even where to start, and college can feel like a bubble where the real world doesn’t matter because we are not a part of it.
I chatted with Edgelynn Venuti, a member of UMaine UVote, and she told me there seems to be a “50/50 split between students who are super involved and have a concrete plan, and those that have no idea what’s on the ballot.” This makes sense, especially if you are in a major whose focus is not on current events, as politics often does not become a conversation topic.
While this is true, according to Tufts Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, “More than half [53%] of college students voted in 2024,” with 70% being registered to vote. These results are on par with what Venuti described to me, but for the students that do have a plan or are considering voting, two of the elections on the Maine ballot this cycle win out as most important.
The first race that came up a lot in a small poll of students was the gubernatorial election, which had Republican Robert Charles facing Democrat Hannah Pingree as major party candidates, with independent Rick Bennett also running for the position. For students, this race feels important because it feels that it will affect them much more than a congressional seat. For example, the governor of Maine is in charge of the budget, meaning that we as students at a public university are affected by the decision of how much funding the University of Maine System receives. The governor also appoints members to the Board of Trustees who directly make decisions about UMaine and its faculty.
While this race is on the mind of many students, the race that almost everyone deemed as “feeling the most important” was the U.S. Senate race between Republican incumbent Susan Collins and Democratic challenger Troy Jackson. This race is truthfully hard to ignore. With significant national attention and funding, these candidates’ names are ingrained in many Mainers’ minds.
The biggest reason for this race being under the microscope is because Collins is chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which allocates federal funding and is a huge asset to the Republican Party as a whole. In this role, Collins recently secured $45 million in congressional funding to build a new health science building here on campus.
At the end of the day, while they may be hard to understand, these races have real and direct effects on students here, and they hold a lot of significance for UMaine and its current and future students. There are many resources for students to vote, such as UMaine UVote, which can help you register with proof of ID and residency. Additionally, students can vote in person at the New Balance Field House and Memorial Gym, which serves as the polling site for the town of Orono.
