Students living on campus heard Trick or Vote this Halloween from the Student Vote Coalition aiming to get students out to the polls this election.
Trick or Vote is a non-partisan national event that happens every election year where volunteers dress in their costumes and knock on their neighbor’s door to remind them to vote.
On Wednesday night, the Student Vote Coalition at UCF split off into groups to knock on the doors of students living in Tower II. Residents were asked if they were registered to vote and if they knew their poll location.
“For election day the arena is going to go be open for students living on campus to go and vote, but obviously UCF is doing a very poor job at advertising that, there’s no posters or nothing about that” said Daniela Gonzalez, Student Vote Coalition volunteer, social work and non-profit management student.
Residents were also handed information about voter laws and how to protect their rights. Most importantly, they were given easy to understand information of Amendment 1 through 11.
“They were giving information about how to vote the way I want to vote, and I believe that some of the descriptions on the ballot are very advanced, I just want to make sure I’m voting yes or no correctly for what I want,” Alexandra Awyache, micro and macro biology student.
Pledge cards were also given to students to sign, pledging that they already voted or plan to vote. At the bottom of the pledge card, students circled one or two issues that they are most concerned about so that student organizations can reach out to them based on their concerns.
“I’m really concerned about Obama Care and how it plays out going to med school, I want to see how that will actually affect me and my future if it would make it a lot harder to afford med school, and if it would make it harder as a doctor to get compensated for the procedures I would be doing,” said Mathew Weber, bio med student.
“I would have at least expected students to say ‘no, I’m not interested’, but they were very receptive,” said Joshua McConnell, Student Vote Coalition volunteer, international and global studies major.
After two hours of knocking door-to-door, volunteers felt Trick or Vote was a huge success.
Trick or Vote was put on by the Student Vote Coalition, which was comprised of VOX, SLAP, SSA, USSA, Vote Mob, Dream Defenders, Multicultural Center, and LGBQT services.
