By Joslyn DelSignore / The Jambar
Student Government Association drove Youngstown State University students to the polls this election season.
SGA sponsored a free voter shuttle from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 30. The shuttle was run by Student Activities, which picked up students from Tressel Way and transported them to the Mahoning County Board of Elections.
All participating YSU students had to be a registered voter in Mahoning County.
Justin Tucker, president of SGA, said the association’s goal was to help YSU students vote by making their way to the polls.
“We are very happy with the voter shuttle because it gives people that are registered in Mahoning County at YSU an accessible and easy opportunity to go cast their vote, cast their ballot formally at the board of elections,” Tucker said. “That’s really our goal at the end of the day, get people to go vote and be involved, and we’re happy with assisting with the final end of that process.”
Tucker said SGA has made multiple efforts to ensure YSU students were prepared for this year’s election.
“Our goal with all of the initiatives that we’ve been putting on throughout this election cycle was just having people be engaged, active and prepared to participate in the elections,” Tucker said.
In September, SGA hosted a Candidate Forum for Constitution Day, where 17 candidates were invited to YSU to share their political platform. Tucker said SGA hosted the event in hopes that students would get familiar with the candidates.
Tucker said SGA also worked with the League of Women Voters and other organizations to ensure that students had voting resources.
He also said it’s important to encourage college students to vote so they have a say in what their future looks like.
“We are the next generation,” Tucker said. “Our future and the rest of our lives are dependent on the policies that might be put in place now. So, given that we are the future, we are going to be the ones that are going to have to deal with and live with whatever decisions are made right now … It’s important that every young person is active, regardless of which way you vote.”
Tucker said SGA wants to continue initiatives such as the voter shuttle that encourage students to be involved in elections.
“We’ve had some really great ideas this year, so we want to leave the seeds for other people to plant and grow,” Tucker said. “These types of things are great. Students seem to really like them and we’ve received a lot of good feedback about some of the other events that we had done, so this is absolutely something that we would like to see continue in the future.”
Election day took place Nov. 3. Ohio polls were open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.