Director for Student Involvement Colleen Frazier And Associate Professor of Political Science Rob Glover co-lead UMaine UVote. Frazier has volunteered at elections since the start of her adulthood. While preparing the polls and students for Nov. 5 is part of her current job description, Frazier remains passionate about voting.
“Our purpose here is getting our students registered to vote, getting our students informed about voting and getting them to the polls,” said Frazier.
Frazier described the arrangement process as “wild.” Commotion was expected but still difficult to anticipate in terms of the number of voters at a given point. Policy standards were another factor. Poll workers must be specific about the CCA layout, so as not to break any federal or state laws. The Orono team worked to ensure a proper voting scenario for all residents. The process began on Oct. 29, due to the early voting opportunity offered on Oct. 30.
“We brought a lot of materials over from the town of Orono and from the Center for Student Involvement rentals and things like that, and we were able to work with the CCA to store some of that here over the last week,” said Frazier. “It took a lot of manpower and a lot of hours.”
According to Frazier, class-change times are busiest because of student scheduling conflicts that prevent many of them from voting in the middle of certain hours. She provided an estimate of how many Orono voters may appear. She shared that 2,300 residents submitted an absentee ballot, and 12,000 more residents were eligible to vote on election day. Frazier also estimated that of the Nov. 5 voters, over 25% registered the day of.
“Orono does historically have a really good turnout, especially in presidential elections. But has a pretty good voter turnout overall, especially when we’re on campus for these larger elections. And last week, we had 600 people come through,” said Frazier. “We’re hoping for at least 10 times that today.”
According to Frazier, the question she was most frequently asked was, “Does this count as proof of residency?”
“Honestly, the political climate right now is what it is. You never really know what you’re gonna get. So, I think just being as prepared as we can has really put us in a good spot for anticipating things,” said Frazier. “We’re gonna do exactly what they’re expected to do and do it the best they can.”
Mak Thompson is a fourth-year student with a double major in political science and women and gender studies. They volunteered in voter registration throughout the entire day. Thompson went in depth as to what their contributions were leading up to the election.
“I’ve actually been working with Professor Rob Glover, getting people to work the polls all across the state of Maine… I texted some students to make sure they were gonna make it to their assigned times,” said Thompson. “With Shelly, the town clerk, she had sessions for us to watch on how to get people registered to vote and the procedures of working here at the polls”
According to Thompson, the busiest hours were lunchtime and 5 p.m. when people are out of work. The question they were most-commonly asked was whether or not registering to vote in Orono was making a commitment to do so permanently.
“I think a lot of people are worried that if they want to go back home, that they can’t vote. They just have to re-register again if they want to vote in another election somewhere else. Living on campus, everyone’s address changes every year, so that can be a hassle for students to have to register to vote every year.”
Thompson voted via absentee mail-in ballot that they submitted on Oct. 31.
“I know a lot of students are really worried about the result of the election. Either way it goes, just to try and stay confident. Voting in local elections is important too, not just in Presidential elections,” said Thompson.
