This is Skidmore Podcast: Don’t boo. Vote!

On the latest episode of This is Skidmore, Max Fleischman 19届，Doris Donelan 19届和Hannah Fishman 19届和Robin Adams坐在一起， 领导活动主任，讨论他们为促进选民登记所做的努力. 这些报道涵盖了选民压制、缺席投票以及如何获得选票等话题 Skidmore students involved in this year's general election.

Transcript: 

Robin: I'm here with Hannah Fishman, Max Fleischman, and Doris Donolin. Donolin?

Doris: Donolin.

Robin: Donolin, yes. And these are three students that I worked with this year, and they worked with each other to get out the vote here at Skidmore. On November 6 of this 2018年，我们有中期选举，这是三个漂亮的学生 passionate about raising the number of college students that voted. I wanted them 讲述他们的故事，谈论他们的激情是什么，他们一直在做什么. So, let's start with it.

Robin: 麦克斯，我要从你开始了因为你和我一直有很多联系 summer. Tell me what started this with you?

Max: 对我来说，这真的来自于对投票人数的震惊和失望 支持千禧一代和z世代，然后说，好吧，我真的做不到 just sit by and let that happen again. Actually, the day after the election I had 当时我和我的导师开会她就滔滔不绝地说 她对没有大学生投票以及这种情况感到非常不安 今年的大学生毕业率很低，这种情况真的需要改变 从那以后，我一直在思考这个问题，我是谁 gonna do? And then, last semester I got elected as SGA President and I was like well, 我有这个职位，不妨利用它做点好事，争取到人 more involved in politics.

Robin: 汉娜，你来这里的时候，不是心怀不满，而是不积极参与 Skidmore Democrats, right?

Hannah: 嗯，我们去年做了这个活动——我们为全国选民登记做了一个活动 与萨拉托加县妇女选民联盟，罗宾和 我和他们的联络人凯西协调了一下，我们是通过多丽丝的俱乐部"连接"来做的 妇女选民联盟(League of Women Voters)正在登记选民，而我们正在 说到投票本身的一些琐事，那是100周年，当女性 在纽约有投票权，所以，你知道，来和我们谈谈，告诉我们在哪里 你要登记投票，回答一些问题，拿块糖果之类的. 我们有庆祝选民登记的贴纸，一切进展顺利，他们登记了， I want to say like 50 voters. I'm not sure, it was an off year election...

Robin: This was last year?

Hannah: This was last year. But it went very well and after the event, we kind of then lightly 我一直和凯西保持联系，商量明年的活动，所以有一些 se-mailing back and forth over the summer, but no real plans. Got back to school, 我听到了一个令人惊讶的消息，SGA正在采取这个行动，这是一个很大的倡议 it was awesome. And I was kind of like oh, well, um, can I play? I want to be part of this. And I kind of weaseled my way in and here I am now. I think this event went 令人惊讶的是，我不会说肯定比去年好很多，但它只是 不同的是，尤其是今年登记投票和投票的能量 midterms is way different than it was in voting in 2017.

Robin: Tell me about Connect with Congress.

Doris: So, I'm not a Political Science major, I'm Social Work major...

Robin: That's okay.

Doris: 我上了一门社会工作课，叫做与团体、组织和社区合作， 你必须为这门课做一个大项目，花大约40个小时来完成 to get the credit. So we made a club called Connect with Congress. And the point was 因为它是人们与众议院代表取得联系的一种方式 of Representatives. That was kind of the original goal, but then also in our mission 声明说，我们想提高火博体育的投票率，让更多的学生登记 to vote and be more knowledgeable about voting, and it kind of just came with the 使命宣言，如果人们更了解情况，更参与其中，他们就会 want to vote more, so we started doing voter registration drives.

Doris: 是啊，去年和汉娜在一起，那是我第一次参与 因为我觉得，这似乎是在校园里做一些活跃活动的好方法.

Doris: 还有一点也不一样，那就是很多人都缺席了 will be like, are you registered to vote? And they're like, yeah. Then be like, do you have your absentee? And then they're like, oh my god, no I don't. So we've been mailing people's absentee ballots for them.

Hannah: 我认为这是我最喜欢的事情之一，尤其是与去年相比 当你找到一个人，你会说，好吧，但是你需要缺席投票吗，他们 turn - they stop - and they give you a look, and they're like yeah, I do.

Robin: ...so it's the same as sharing a meme on Facebook.

Max: Yeah, exactly. It's the first step that you have some other stuff you gotta do.

Doris: And people don't realize they need to get their absentee for every election. That it won't just keep coming after you've done it the first time.

Hannah:这很好，因为他们通常会想要谈论和学习 我认为，在过去，我们也只关注登记 萨拉托加斯普林斯的人，但我认为我们做得很好 当然，你知道，在这里注册和在其他地方注册是有利有弊的 from. If you wanted to register at home, here's how you could do that, and not just limiting people to registering here.

Max: I think registering for absentee ballots has been the hot new thing. It's nice to see though, it's like people caring about their home  and wanting to get involved with their own local politics.

Doris:If you make it easy for people, they're very into it.

Max:是的，很多犹豫和对投票缺乏兴趣，甚至没有兴趣， 所谓的缺乏兴趣，来自于对投票的无知和焦虑 because people don't understand the basics of it. Actually, one girl directly asked 我，所以就像中期选举一样，我只是投票给民主党人，基本上是她 thought it was like a primary situation. And I was like no, it's just like the presidential election except there's no president running. It's just a general election. And she 就像，哦，然后她明白了，她好多了，感觉好多了 准备得更充分了，然后她问得更多，好吧，怎么了 我的家乡，谁在竞选，等等，等等，我怎么才能拿到缺席选票， 然后她就能得到所有的信息，为选举日做好准备.

Hannah:I've had a few people walk by and be like, oh, this is for SGA? No, I don't care, I'm not voting. And they're like, no, no, no, this is for the real government. No hate on SGA, but this one's for a really important election.

Max:That might have a bigger impact on you than what I will do in SGA.

Robin: You're very good at e-mails, usually...

Max: Thank you. Sometimes. 

Hannah:It's the subject lines, you get the people, hooking in with the...

Max:Yeah, with the flirty subject lines.

Robin:让我印象深刻的一件事是他们的存在，始终如一，始终如一， presence out there, talking to people who have questions is important. As I was doing a sort of larger workshop for a group of students about the importance of voting, 在一个大房间里回答个人问题是非常困难的，我知道 this all along, but was really brought to light at that moment.

Robin:我相信，我们国家的选举法是多么的疯狂 他们因州而异，通常是县与县之间，这是非常困难的. So to work with one student on what it means in Cuayahoga county while there is a slew of other people from a different county or a different state makes it really difficult. So, actually being out there and talking to people is so important. And you guys were all able to do this, in an incredibly and purposefully non-partisan way. Partnered with the Skidmore Republicans, who are out there helping you register 我认为这是我们作为一个机构必须做的事情， right?

Robin:It may not be the best method of attracting people to a cause, right? But, in here, the cause is voting.

Doris:人们也认为投票不会对他们的生活产生直接影响，但实际上 does in a lot of ways. Policy effects everyone. So, if you can bring something up, you're like, you know this happens because of this thing that happened recently. They're like, oh my god, wow, that's crazy.

Robin:And you've entered into a policy writing competition?

Doris:No, I might. So, I'm in a class right now called Social Policy and Social Justice, 这是一门300级的高级社会工作课，你在这门课上要做的是写作 a policy statement. So, he was talking about if we wanted to, we could enter the competition. And I'm actually doing mine on a voting policy.

Robin:Very interesting. What's sort of voting policy?

Doris:新罕布什尔州州长最近通过了一项法律，这意味着为了投票 在新罕布什尔州，你需要申报合法居留权，这是生效的 in July 2019. So, it's like here, if you study at Skidmore, you can just register 在纽约投票，然后你可以去国际刑事法院投票，但这将是 next year in New Hampshire, you'll need either a car registered in New Hampshire, which can cost hundreds of dollars or you need to get a new license. It's pretty much just tantamount to a poll tax. And, it's really kind of a blatant measure to suppress 学生投票，在我看来，因为很多学生都不是新罕布什尔州的居民 who study in New Hampshire.

Hannah:And I think the ability for students to vote on a campus is so important. I don't 我认为这一直是一件事，我不知道它的历史，但是当人们 最终意识到，这些学生住在这个地区，在这个校园里，所以是的，他们 should be able to be registered to vote here. They could be here for four years, maybe more with graduate school.

Hannah:这里的学生可能会说，哦，我对萨拉托加的政治一无所知，但是好吧， 你不需要知道每一个细节，但政策付诸实施就会产生效果 you and also future Skidmore students to come. It sets the ground for what you can 火博体育必须遵守纽约州和萨拉托加斯普林斯的法律. If that law is bad - Juuling's illegal - that effects you.

Robin:纽约州法律规定火博体育的学生，大学生，可以投票 town that you are living. You are residents of this town. Therefore, you represent this town. That was challenged at one point, I believe the New York state supreme court, where it was struck down.

Hannah: 是啊，火博体育在萨拉托加斯普林斯有自己的区，这很重要. We actually have two seats on the Saratoga Springs Democratic committee. I was originally 我将成为其中一个席位，但我实际上是在马里兰州注册的，他们说， you need to re-register, and I was like no. I want to vote in Maryland elections, 所以现在他们有其他的学生来填补这些职位，但是他们 在一个大多是老年人的委员会中参与政策讨论 people from Saratoga Springs.

Doris:最近，我和我的教授聊天，他说——你们在读书吗 火博体育在乔治亚州发生的事情，他们试图关闭所有的 these polling stations? So basically apparently the same thing, the county tried to 和火博体育的投票有关系吗，几年前他们试图关闭那里的投票 在火博体育，因为它无法进入，并将其转移到镇上的一栋建筑中， 甚至去健身房，这是一个想法，我认为如果是这样的话，人们就会少投票 in the gym. It's kind of just crazy how it happens everywhere, that people are trying to shut down polling locations. I just thought was interesting that that happened at Skidmore.

Max:这就好像投票变得如此复杂，以至于降低了投票或类似的事情 that. It's almost like we have a history of disenfranchising people from their access 到投票，这种情况还在继续尽管情况有所好转，也许 not necessarily done. There's always room to improve.

Robin:Easy, Max. You've registered people to vote. We've still got...

Hannah:About a week.

Robin:Well we've got a month until the election so, after the deadlines what's next?

Max:Well reminding people to vote, that's the basic thing. It's just being like, hey, 要注意这些问题，知道什么时候是选举日，知道什么时候你必须得到你的 不在籍选票，真的，登记，拿到你的不在籍选票，签名 准备好是很好，但如果你不出现，那就没有任何意义了 vote. It's the equivalent of liking something on Facebook. It doesn't really do anything 它只是表明，哦，我有点兴趣，但如果你不出现，那就意味着绝对 nothing, it means diddly squat.

Robin:So will you be out there with your laptops on vote.org, showing people?

Hannah:我想应该是收集人们的电话号码或电子邮件作为选举日提醒标志 事实上，人们更愿意给这些东西，因为我们没有 我会用任何东西轰炸你，除了，嘿，今天是11月6日，给我滚开 to the polls.

Max:Yeah, I'm gonna write a very funny e-mail, send it out, remind people to vote.

Robin:Guy's, thank you for doing this.

Robin:我们以一个问题结束了这期播客，我觉得这个问题很可爱， I'm gonna keep doing it. Hannah...

Hannah:Oh, I was gonna say don't start with me.

Robin:Doris?

Doris:You can start with me.

Robin:Doris, what's your creative thought?

Doris:我的创造性想法是，我不知道这是不是一个创造性想法，但基本上 在大学里做些有创意的事情，因为我觉得 很容易进入这种节奏，你醒来，你去上课，我不知道，然后 a lot of people do extra curriculars, but I feel like colleges are a really great place with lots of resources for being active and for working towards things that 对你来说很重要，你知道当你回家过感恩节和你的亲戚吗 他们会说，你们这些年轻人都毁了，你们什么都不做，不像，实际上，我 帮助注册了超过100人，所以，我不知道，我只是想要真正关注 to the resources around you.

Max:Yeah, I would reiterate pay attention to all the resources around you. There's so 这里有很多你可以利用的东西，只是人们没有意识到. 同时，要注意新闻，把全国的看作是地方的，因为每个国家 问题始于一个小镇的地方问题，比如海洛因或阿片类药物的流行 going on in the country right now. I think in upstate New York, 52% of New Yorkers 威尔会承认他认识受此影响的人，就像这是地方性问题一样.

Max:从我高中的经历来看，这是影响我们的因素 在学校，我认识的那些已经去世的同学，都是因为一些问题而去世的 with opioids or heroin and so it's taking this national issue and saying, oh this is where it's affecting me right here right now, what can I do to help fix that? And 你能做的一件事就是关注政治和你要选的人 office, and where they're getting their money from, if they're getting money from 大型制药公司或者如果他们从当地的当地人那里得到更多的钱 it's very important to be aware of that stuff. That's my creative thought.

Hannah:我的创意想法是，这很奇怪，但要有创意，就像你 让学生和选民谈论投票和登记投票，我认为， 因为我发现正常的，就像-嘿，登记投票，投票是好的 在某种程度上，并不能很好地与学生建立联系 他们可以联系到的是真正重要的和当地的问题，与他们有关 home town or here at Skidmore, that's I think the way to reach people.

Hannah:找到他们生活中受政策影响的方面是非常有用的 确保人们投票，人们出现，这是我的创造性想法.

Robin:Thank you all. It's been a pleasure. Doris, say goodbye to the people.

Doris: Goodbye everyone.

Robin:Bye to the people.

Hannah:Bye. See ya later.