UNCA’s SGA and UNCA Votes continue to spread voting resources to students despite plans for a virtual semester.
“Even though we lost a lot of the events and content we were going to have this month and beginning of November, we don’t want the work we’ve done thus far to go to waste. We want to make sure students are still able to cast their votes,” said Junior Liv Barefoot, UNCA student body president.
Ashley Moraguez, associate professor and co-chair of the political science department, is collaborating with students to program events for UNCA’s semester of civics, the theme of the fall 2024 semester dedicated to civic engagement.
“The reason we have a semester of civics is because of student advocacy. They wanted to see more on campus about elections and civic engagement,” Moraguez said. “I have been working really closely with the students to plan some of these events, as have some other faculty and staff on campus so it’s a true collaboration but student led.”
SGA and UNCA Votes planned events throughout the rest of the semester to maximize student civic engagement. Many of these, including a candidate meet and greet in which students would have the opportunity to engage with their candidates face to face, were canceled.
“I actually just sent out the cancelation email to all the candidates a few days ago. Since all the students are just kind of spread all over the place right now and the dorms aren’t open it just wasn’t feasible anymore,” Barefoot said.
Barefoot and Moraguez are hosting a virtual meeting in which UNCA students will have the opportunity to ask questions related to casting their votes. They are also answering students’ questions via email.
“There is a lot of confusing information, everything’s changed so rapidly that it’s overwhelming,” Barefoot said. “There is no reason to panic. There are still lots of avenues to make sure your vote is casted but just keep asking questions.”
Western North Carolina faces a shortage of poll workers as a result of locals being displaced. UNCA Votes encourages students to consider volunteering at the polls.
“We’re looking for potential young people and students to step into those roles if they are able to,” Barefoot said.
UNCA Votes promoted the Carolina Daze Music Festival, hosted by Common Cause North Carolina, a voting rights non-profit, before its cancelation. The event was scheduled to take place at Salvage Station in the River Arts District, which faced severe hurricane damage.
“We would work with our partners across the state to have presence at the polls and run advertisements encouraging people to vote. Of course, with the hurricane and everything it unleashed on Western North Carolina, it kind of changed our plans on a 180,” said Gino Nuzzolillo, campaigns manager at Common Cause North Carolina.
The event at Salvage Station was one concert of several in a series across North Carolina where community organizers and activists could fundraise and educate. The concert was set to feature artists Indigo De Souza, Cavetown, Adia Victoria and Pink Beds.
“We pivoted instead to distributing funds for mutual aid and disaster relief. We had enough left over that we had raised from Raleigh and our other concerts to distribute about $25,000 in aid to groups all across the Appalachian region,” Nuzzolillo said.
Liv Barefoot said amidst uncertainties, she saw her community members continue to share resources with one another through social media and forms of internet communication.
“Because there is so much change happening right now, making sure everyone is on the same page as best as possible is important, so no one gets confused or ends up hurting their ability to vote,” Barefoot said.
