SGA encourages students to vote

By Ashton Smith, Assistant Features Editor

Two weeks ago, SGA manned a table in the GC for students to register to vote for the general elections coming up in November.

The table was set up for an entire week but is no longer available to students, although the link is still available to register, said SGA President Clayton Myers.

“All you have to do is text ‘TOGETHER’ to 40649,” Myers said.

The table was present for students to register and ask questions, as well as have conversations with the SGA members running the table.

“[Students] talked to us about registering, what that civic duty looks like and how to get an absentee ballot,” Myers said.

The event was also brought about because of a partnership with the ‘Because I Care’ campaign.

“We believe it’s our responsibility to vote, not because we love politics, but because we care about our faith and applying proven Biblical solutions to our nation’s problems,” according to becauseicareinc.com.

The ‘Because I Care’ campaign is a non-partisan, Christian movement which encourages students to vote.

The organization has plenty of reasons on their website for why students should vote and vocalize their opinions in the upcoming elections.

They even have a table for on-campus resources so that students can learn even more about their impact not only as a voter, but as a Christian.

This registration table is new as of this academic year and is a part of Myers’ and student vice president Nathan Floyd’s plans for improving students’ campus experience.

“We thought of this idea at the beginning of the semester,” Myers said. “There was no specific place we got the idea from, just knowing that we want to make sure students have a voice in our government.”

Plenty of students visited the table to talk to the SGA officers and to register for this year’s elections.

“The impact we want to have is actually just to get students to vote,” Myers said. “This is in a non-partisan movement, as in we aren’t working for any specific party. We just want to make sure students are encouraged to vote.”

In light of the registration table’s success in its first year, the officers said they are hopeful that the table will be a continual part of SGA’s presence on campus.

As citizens and as Christians, students are motivated to take a stand for what they believe in, especially when it comes to elections.

“We encourage students to vote to make your voices heard,” Myers said. “The time to speak out about who are leaders isn’t 20 years in the future; the time for that is now.”