The Pima County Elections Department and the Pima County Recorder’s Office held a joint tabling event on Wednesday, Oct. 2, on the University of Arizona campus.
Gabriella Cázares-Kelly from the Pima County Recorder’s Office and Constance Hargrove, Pima County elections director, spearheaded the event providing informative handouts about where the closest voting location is on campus, sample ballots and a guide to voting as a college student, allowing students to gain a better understanding of the election and the resources available to them.
The event was able to give help and guidance to students across campus like UA senior Dani Romero for example.
“It was important for me to be here to get information especially in this election,” Romero said. “I originally registered to vote in Texas, but I wanted to change it because I want my vote to count in Arizona, the community and the state I’ve lived in for the last four years.”
Both offices wanted the opportunity to reach students, a population Cázares-Kelly called a vulnerable group.
“Students are a population that are very vulnerable to missing voter registration deadlines, and they often have additional barriers when registering to vote because they tend to move a lot,” Cázares-Kelly said.
Cázares-Kelly added that for college students who live in dorms or frequently move between apartments, maintaining a permanent address can be difficult.
“We try to say that property ownership is no longer a requirement for voting but actually it very much is an issue for people who don’t have that permanent residence,” Cázares-Kelly said.
“Between couch surfing or staying with friends, it can become difficult to send mail, like a ballot for instance, to someone,” Cázares-Kelly said.
The recorder’s office had communication sent out that they were going to be on campus so various students were able to stop by and bring documents to get in-person help for obstacles they have been having when trying to register online.
“People don’t usually carry these items in their backpack like a passport or a birth certificate, so we had people who were anticipating seeing us because they’ve been trying to register and have been running into obstacles and we’re here and able to help them,” Cázares-Kelly said.
These events between the two offices are usually far and few between, but this event was able to also spread important information about the upcoming election.
“We can’t obviously be everywhere in the county to provide this one-on-one information, but being here on campus creates the opportunity for us to spread information and to have it highlighted more,” Cázares-Kelly said.
Hargrove said that the event had a steady stream of students stopping by to get the information from the joint tabling event. Her focus for the event was on making sure that first-time voters understood what was going to be on their ballots.
“With a four-page ballot it can be really intimidating for first-time voters to have all that on their ballot when a lot of them are statewide propositions and we have 13 of those,” Hargrove said.
Hargrove and Cázares-Kelly’s main priorities for the event were to get students informed and get them to make a plan to vote.
“Make a plan!” Hargrove said. “Decide how you’re gonna vote, if you’re going to vote early make sure you know the deadlines. If you’re going to vote on election day, make sure you do your homework to make the best decision.”
Cázares-Kelly had the approach that even if they don’t reach a whole lot of students, the students they do reach can tell friends or members of a campus organization they’re in and it can snowball from there if people share that information.
“We want to ignite a little spark and get a fire roaring and people excited about participating in one of their most fundamental rights,” Cázares-Kelly said.
The last day to register to vote is today. To register or to update your voter registration you can visit https://www.recorder.pima.gov/Register.
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