The 100-foot perimeter around the UMC’s polling location marked the only neutral territory on the University of Colorado Boulder campus on Election Day.
As students flocked to the UMC polling place to cast their ballots, none of them were immune from last-minute campaigning.
One student, Rafael Pease, found the presence of electioneers so frustrating that it almost influenced him to abstain from voting. Not only did he receive many phone calls from campaigners, but one even showed up at his house at 8 p.m. on multiple evenings leading up to the election.
“I had my ballot all filled out, but I just threw it away because I was so annoyed,” Pease said.
Despite his irritation, Pease ended up voting for third-party candidate Jill Stein because she advocates for environmental issues, a topic close to the student’s heart.
“I just want a better outcome for everyone,” Pease said.
Some students were less successful in ignoring the presence of electioneers on campus, and allowed it to affect their decision to vote.
Riley Sherlock and Jamie DuFault are two of these students who could not tolerate the swarm of campaigners on campus.
“I just thought a lot of them were obnoxious,” DuFault said. “Every time anyone asked if I had voted, I just said yes to get them away from me.”
While Sherlock also felt overwhelmed by the pressure to vote, her decision to avoid the polling center was driven by a lack of education about the candidates.
“Everything I know about the candidates came from social media, and I didn’t feel like I could trust anything I saw there,” she said.
Wyatt Mullins, a fellow CU student, said that his reasons for not voting were based on his morals.
“While an argument could have been made for looking to a third party, I most nearly see my inaction as a very deliberate action as a commentary [on the election],” Mullins said.
Although many students encountered last minute campaigners as they headed to the poll, all electioneering came to a halt outside the entrance to the polling center.
Action was taken against electioneering at the UMC polling station. Michelle Krezek, a deputy at the Boulder County commissioner’s office explained that no promotion of any kind is allowed within 100 feet of a polling station.
As if to make her point, a young man in a Trump shirt came into the voting area and was asked to turn his shirt inside out. Krezek said that there are certain times when freedom of speech is regulated and the polling stations are no exception.
Contact CU Independent News Writers Maris Westrum and Eliza Radeka at Maris.Westrum@colorado.edu and Eliza.Radeika@colorado.edu.
