Concord University Rocks the Vote

Several Concord students, including senior Jon Berry pictured here, spent their Saturday volunteering to call people encouraging them to vote in the election.
Photo By James Hoyle

While every election is perceived at the time as the most important in the history of the United States of America, this past election is arguably significant, as it comes at a pivotal and doubtful time in the history of this country. One would think that because of all of the media buzz about the election that people would show more interest in turning up to express themselves and vote. However, according to an August study from the Pew Research Center, the United States ranked 31st in a number of 35 countries in terms of voter turnout. It would seem that while there has been a great deal published about the importance of voting, Americans are still having difficulties finding a reason to get out and vote. Students at Concord University realize this, and this past weekend, some decided to do something about it. On Saturday, November 6, several Concord University students took time out of their weekend to volunteer at a phone bank and encouraged people to get out and vote for the candidate of their choice. The event happened from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM, and was sponsored by Concord’s Grassroots Advocacy and Community Development class and the Student Chapter for the Our Children for Our Future Campaign. 

    The goal of this campaign was simply to encourage voting. The callers were told to not actively sponsor any one candidate, but to rather encourage others to speak their minds and vote on November 8. Mcailyn Keffer, a senior, said that they were calling citizens of West Virginia, asking them what problems are in their community, and if they are voting and if they need transportation to get out and vote. “If they (the people that need transportation) call their local churches or their local polling place, the party that they’re associated with can usually provide transportation for them.” She went on to explain that the Grass Roots Advocacy is in fact a social services class that offers credit in social sciences. “They do a bunch of volunteer work for the state of West Virginia,” she added. The volunteer work the do include such things as Our Children, Our Future, and “…a lot of individual projects that build up the community.” According to Keffer, a student thinks of a problem or something that needs fixing in the community, and then they build up a team, create a plan, and try and solve the problem. 

    A lot of people in this state, according to Keffer had already voted early when they called them, or voted used an absentee ballot. However, she also said that a lot of people said that they were going to vote, and at the time of the interview, she said that it was going well. They had a group of five and whoever volunteered that day to help man the phone lines. 

    The goal of the phone bank was to call over 2,500 people in that time. Keffer later said that she herself called over 100 people. With this phone bank, Concord University students showed once again that they want to try and help make the community better once again.