The Alachua County Supervisor of Elections is receiving an increase in voter registrations as the Monday deadline to register to vote in the 2018 primary election approaches.
Director of Outreach for the Supervisor of Elections T.J. Pyche said the increase is a normal occurrence as deadlines like Monday’s approach.
Pyche said the office has an outreach program to educate high school seniors and UF and Santa Fe College students about registration. The office has attended or coordinated nearly 100 outreach events in 2018.
He said on-campus UF activities included registrations and posting flyers throughout the summer in coordination with the Bob Graham Center for Public Service, Chomp the Vote, the Inter-Residence Hall Association and UF Housing & Residence Education.
“I think students will have a more full experience while they’re here at UF… if they engage in the things going on around them,” Pyche said. “Voting is kind of the core piece, or the first step, to being able to have a say in a community.”
Communications Director for the Bob Graham Center Shelby Taylor said the center’s approximately 50 student fellows worked with the elections office to register about 100 students at six locations across campus July 19.
“Each time a new voter comes to our table and we can take their application,” Taylor said, “that’s a momentous occasion for us.”
Taylor said UF has outperformed most public research institutions regarding voter registration and participation, citing a study conducted by the Institute for Democracy and Higher Education at Tufts University. In the study, 64.2 percent of eligible UF students exercised the ability compared to a national average of 51.9 percent.
“There is a new wave of young people ready to take charge and to make an impact in our state, nation and the Gainesville community,” Taylor said.
She said increasing youth engagement may stem from “several instances of young people being impacted directly by policy.” She cited Parkland and the youth activism and engagement following it. She also suggested the first group of middle school students mandated to take a civics course by the Justice Sandra Day O’Connor Civics Education Act now entering college has an effect.
According to data provided by the elections office, the total number of registered voters aged 18 to 25 in Alachua County jumped by about 600 individuals from 2014 to 2016. Preliminary data showed the same age demographic jumped by about 3,000 individuals from 2016 to 2018.
The same data report by the elections office showed that between 2014 and 2016, the number of Democrat and Republican voters increased by about 6,000 and 3,000 respectively. Between 2016 and the preliminary 2018 data, Democrat and Republican registrations increased respectively by about 3,000 and 1,500 individuals.
Voters with no party affiliation increased by about 1,300 individuals between 2014 and 2016 but increased by about 7,000 between 2016 and 2018.
However, student voters may not have access to locations where they can cast their ballots.
U.S. District Court Judge Mark Walker decided Tuesday to temporarily strike down language within Florida law prohibiting the Supervisor of Elections from using college campus facilities as early voting locations. This prompted Supervisor of Elections Kim Barton to write to the office of UF President Kent Fuchs on the same day.
Barton asked for a voting location to be established in the Reitz Union during the early voting period for the general election from Oct. 22 to Nov. 3. She also requested 40 monitored parking spaces in the Reitz Union’s garage each day of early voting between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.
Barton has not received a response, which also raised the possibility of a meeting between Barton and Fuchs. Barton asked in the letter that UF continue its efforts to encourage voting, which would include access to the early voting location.
“My objectives are always focused around Alachua County’s voters,” Barton wrote in an email. “We have more community partners than ever, and our messaging to voters is the best it’s ever been.”
Follow Jacob Kovach on Twitter @jacob_kovach and contact him at jkovach@alligator.org.
Bob Graham Center for Public Service student fellows Priya Amilineni (right) and Dalia Figueredo (center) register a student to vote during the July 19 voter registration event in coordination with the Alachua County Supervisor of Elections.
