During the presidential election, college students face barriers like being absent from their home, being international students or needing more proper candidate knowledge, with some students simultaneously being first-time voters.
Vassilios Davis, a sophomore chemical engineering major from Chicago, Illinois, also requested an absentee ballot in a process he thought was simple.
“I just had to go to the election website and then request a ballot,” Davis said. “It was honestly pretty easy, a lot easier than I thought it would be. That’s why I was kind of holding off on it, but thank God I didn’t because the deadline was on Halloween.”
As a first-time voter, Davis liked voting and saw it as a significant step in his life.
“It felt good to feel like I could express my voice,” Davis said. “It’s just like another step in life. Going into adulthood, it feels a little different from coming from high school.”
Davis also wanted people his age to educate themselves on elections and voting.
“I think the biggest thing is that people our age should feel like they need to be more educated on our political system and the process of it all,” Davis said. “I feel like we hear now is ‘he says, she says,’ and people don’t go out to form their own opinions.”
Benton Jackson, a senior in supply chain management from Sioux City, Iowa, plans to vote on Election Day. However, this is his second time voting, and he has expressed his differences from his first time voting to where he is now.
“I was just less prepared,” Jackson said. “I was young and not very much involved, so that brought to light how I should be informed going into a second election. I’m now a lot more informed and a lot more involved.”
Jackson also wants people to be more open with their beliefs and have discussions with others who may disagree with them.
“It’s super cool to be able to bounce those ideas off of people,” Jackson said. “I feel like when you’re younger, you’re kind of one-sided and worried about what others think. It’s harder to have those discussions, so as an adult, it’s easier for those discussions to happen and be more informed.”
Javin Tewari, a junior in aerospace engineering, said that this election will impact him as an international student.
“As an international student, this election could affect a lot of things because we need to get study visas so that policy could be changed, renewed or altered and could have certain effects on us,” Tewari said.
Tewari also believes international students’ voices should be heard regarding the election.
“I think [international students], not just from Iowa State, should be accounted for because we do a lot of hard work, but we also don’t get work visas because of the global job crunch,” Tewari said. “I think there should be some accommodations made for international students so that they can stay here and get a job, at least part-time, because being an international student, we are not allowed to work off campus as well. I think those kinds of things should be altered because it’s better for the country.”
Election Day is Tuesday. Students curious about voting can learn more here.
