Voting for the St. Paul mayoral and school board elections was taking place on campus Tuesday in McNeely Hall.
Residents of Precinct 6, which encompasses students that live on campus, are eligible to vote in McNeely. So far student turnout has been low, according to election officials.
“There have not been many students up to this point. Usually, with a national election, we see a lot of new registration for students,” said Mitch Helle-Morrissey, the head election judge for Precinct 6 said. “We have only done a handful of new registrations thus far, maybe less than 10.”
Helle-Morrissey said that Ramsey County projects approximately 25 percent voter turnout. He is not optimistic that Precinct 6 will meet this projection today.
“In this precinct I think we had about 1,800 people that were registered prior to election, so if we get 25 percent that would be 450 people,” Helle-Morrissey said. “We have had less than 100 voters so far, so I would be surprised if we got that.”
While turnout has been low, not all students are skipping out on their voting duties. Senior Maggie Johnson said discussions in her Women in Politics class gave her extra motivation to exercise her right to vote.
“The mayor and the school board both play a big role in our day-to-day lives, so it is important to put your voice out there because it does make an impact,” Johnson said.
Senior Darin Lunde also participated in voting at McNeely Tuesday morning. Lunde shared his beliefs on the importance of voting and citizen turnout.
“We’re part of a democracy and voting is how we choose our elected officials,” Lunde said. “The whole point of a democracy is that we get a say, so if you are not going to exercise that say, you don’t really have a democracy, do you?”
Democrat and mayoral candidate Pat Harris was on campus campaigning Tuesday afternoon with a team of staffers and student volunteers. Harris said he had visited most local colleges over the past few days.
“We just like coming to the college campuses and talking to people, and seeing what’s on their mind, and talking about our vision for St. Paul,” Harris said.
Having served on the St. Paul City Council for 12 years, Harris cited “a record that I have of getting things done in this neighborhood and at St. Thomas” as to why students should vote for him.
Check out University Affairs Editor Emily Sweeney’s story about all the mayoral candidates here.
It’s not too late to vote. Voting in McNeely room 100 will continue until 8 p.m. tonight.
Kyle Manderfeld can be reached at mand4052@stthomas.edu.