News Editor Amy Nankin asked people walking down McAlister Drive important questions concerning the 2020 presidential election as Production Manager Daisy Rymer stood by to take a headshot of the interviewees on Oct. 27. From individuals’ own experiences sending in an absentee ballot or casting their vote at a Louisiana polling location, to how they feel overall about the election, The Hullabaloo has chosen select answers given by each interviewee to highlight. 

Name: Olivia Mullaney

Year: Junior and founder of Undergraduate Student Government Civic Engagement Committee

Political Affiliation: Democrat

Home State: Virginia

Are more people who you registered voting here or somewhere else?

I think for Louisiana because we registered over 400 voters in Louisiana which was really really awesome and that’s on top of all the people who have registered with us in the past, registered last year so I think there’s definitely been a big push to make an impact in the place we live for four years especially with some of the amendments like Amendment 1.

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Name: Rishabh Jain

Year: Sophomore

Political Affiliation: Democrat

Home State: Georgia

Are you registered in Louisiana or a home state?

I did not register to vote in Louisiana, I flew home to vote in Georgia because my absentee ballot was taking too long so I just went home and voted.

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Name: Sarah Slimp 

Year: Sophomore

Political Affiliation: Democrat

Home State: Washington, D.C.

Are most of your friends registered to vote here or in other places?

I really pushed to have my friends register to vote here. I think for a lot of people they don’t understand how absentee ballots work so they just kind of forget about it or leave it to the last minute so I really pushed for my friends to register here so they’re going to be voting here.

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Name: Frank Jaster 

Year: N/A

Political Affiliation: Republican

Home State: Louisiana

How are you feeling about the election?

Positive 

Anything else you’d like to add?

Vote early. Vote often. That’s the Louisiana way.

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Name: Kevin Reece

Year: Student

Political Affiliation: No party affiliation

Home State: South Carolina

Did you ever consider changing to register to vote in Louisiana?

I considered it but I feel like as a student I’m not really a permanent resident I would say in the state of Louisiana so I feel guilty, kind of, voting in such a district. 

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Name: Tatum Arbogast

Year: Sophomore

Political Affiliation: Democrat

Home State: Ohio

How was the process of getting an absentee ballot?

I got really worried because it was getting to the point where they weren’t sending it yet and I’ve heard a lot of people have had trouble with that with how many people are registering for absentee ballots this year but I think it was pretty painless, it wasn’t horrible.

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Name: Anna Nuzzo 

Year: Sophomore

Political Affiliation: Democrat

Home State: California

Why did you decide doing an absentee ballot was better?

I wanted to vote in Louisiana but I felt it was more complicated to find information on how to do that.

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Name: Patricia Noel

Year: Junior

Political Affiliation: Democrat

Home State: Alabama

How was the absentee ballot process? Do you trust that your vote will count?

No, I don’t trust the state of Alabama at all concerning my ballot. I’ve been voting now for three years and if you go on the Alabama votes website, it actually says I’ve never voted before and I voted in person so that means they’re actually disenfranchising my vote as a 21-year-old African American female who grew up in a very white, predominantly very wealthy, area. I should have access to anything, I live in the richest zip code, the richest area but there is absolutely no proof I’ve ever voted. And I’m not the person you’d expect to be disenfranchised so if I’m being disenfranchised then who else is too?

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Name: Haley Neff 

Year: Junior

Political Affiliation: Democrat 

Home State: Massachusetts

Would you try to encourage Tulane students to also vote here?

I would but I think it also really depends on where they live and what outcome they want to see in the election so if your state is a swing state maybe you’re going to want to put your vote there. New Orleans obviously is going to probably go blue anyways so even voting here might not make that big of a difference so I guess it just depends on where you’re from.

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Name: Cayla Smith

Year: Senior

Political Affiliation: Independent

Home State: Connecticut

How did you feel about the absentee ballot process?

Connecticut made it pretty easy for everyone because they sent your application to your door to be able to apply for an absentee ballot and I was lucky enough that my parents came to visit and they just brought mine back with them so I didn’t have to worry about mailing it or anything so it was pretty easy, but I know that wasn’t the case for everyone. 

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Name: Livi Bowers

Year: Freshman

Political Affiliation: Democrat

Home State: Florida

How was the absentee voter process?

It was kind of a struggle. I requested my vote-by-mail ballot and it actually got sent back to Florida so I had to call my office and have it sent again and sent again and then I finally got it. So Tulane, the mail center sent it back for some reason. 

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Name: Nathan Curan

Year: Senior

Political Affiliation: Democrat

Home State: Massachusetts

Are you nervous at all about your absentee ballot not making it to Massachusetts?

It already has. We have a tracking program in Massachusetts where I can see that my vote was counted.

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Name: Bailey Casteel

Year: Senior

Political Affiliation: Democrat and/or Independent 

Home State: Louisiana

Would you encourage Tulane students who aren’t from Louisiana to vote here?

Depends on where they’re from, I feel like that’s obvious but if they’re in a swing state and they tend to have more views like mine I would tell them probably vote in the swing state rather than here before of the politics of here, I’m trying to stay nonpartisan but yeah. 

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Name: Elizabeth Grim 

Year: Junior

Political Affiliation: Democrat

Home State: California

How are you feeling about the election overall?

Stressed, I think everybody is stressed. Either way it goes, it’s going to be a mess in this country so obviously there’s one way that I feel like will be less of a mess but we’ll see.

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Name: Cameron Aidrien 

Year: Sophomore

Political Affiliation: Independent

Home State: Louisiana 

Would you encourage Tulane students who aren’t from Louisiana to register here?

I’d definitely encourage them to vote in Louisiana because I feel like New Orleans itself is a city where there are so many cultures  and people from different backgrounds and this is the community we’re in right now you know, you go to college in New Orleans so this is your home for right now. You’re not back home in Maine or Vermont or wherever, you’re here in New Orleans. This is your city right now, we own a part of it, we are a part of this city, you know? We volunteer, it’s part of our curriculum service learning so I’d encourage them to vote in Louisiana for sure.