St. Thomas students and Macalester-Groveland community residents lined up at the Groveland Recreation Center Tuesday to vote in the 2022 midterm elections.
St. Thomas junior Ellie Hadac voted at the Groveland Recreation Center, which catered to students living on mid and South campus as well as off campus in those areas. Many felt this election had an increase of importance due to issues connected to the ballot, including Hadac.
“Even including the presidential election, I think voting today at this midterm is much more important,” Hadac said. “I wasn’t going to miss out.”
University of Minnesota student Bailey Collmann discussed what she felt was most important during this election.
“It’s really important for young people like myself to get out and vote,” Collmann said. “Especially since a lot of the issues that these people are going to be speaking about or making decisions on, are the most important because they’re the ones that are going to be going into office for our generation later.”
With two college-aged daughters voting using absentee ballots, Macalester-Groveland community resident Mary-Margaret Zindren felt it was her moral and civic obligation to vote in the midterm elections.
“I believe so strongly in the power of the franchise of the ability to shape the outcomes of my community, my nation, with voting,” Zindren said. “It’s an imperfect system, but it is a solid, trusted system that has been for generations and generations.”
Zindren was disappointed when she saw the voting rates around the world and how few Americans vote compared to people in other countries where voting is allowed.
“It’s disappointing,” Zindren said. “We’re allowed to shape our country and its outcomes; we can’t take that for granted.”
Sydney LaBelle can be reached at labe7208@stthomas.edu.