Almost half of registered UCSD students turn out to vote on campus

Nearly 1,700 UCSD students voted on Tuesday, Nov. 8 at on-campus polling places and via mail-in ballots. This number accounts for about a 48.5 percent turnout of all registered voters at UCSD, according to the San Diego County Registrar.

Voter turnout was a focal point this election year for the UCSD Student Organized Voter Access Committee (SOVAC), whose members worked throughout the fall quarter to register eligible UCSD students to vote. This year, SOVAC registered between 2,200 and 2,300 students to vote in this election.

According to Executive Director of SOVAC Liam Barrett, as of two weeks before the registration deadline, UCSD held the title of most voter registrations among all UC campuses for the first time.

“Everyone with SOVAC is proud of our efforts to get students engaged in the election process and registered to vote,” Barrett said. “We expect to see an especially high amount of UCSD student turnout, and we’re all thrilled that we could be even a small part of making that happen.”

Polling places did not expect high turnout and some required more paper ballots to be delivered throughout the day. A shortage of ballots meant that many students voted with ballots printed in languages they did not request, as several polling places ran out of English and Spanish ballots, leaving students to vote in Vietnamese or Tagalog in many cases.

For many students, this was their first opportunity to vote in a presidential election.

“One of my distant family members, [Jimmie Lee Jackson], lost his life while he was fighting for his right to vote. In Selma, he was fighting in those protests,” said Avery Robinson, first year Muir student. “People should take a role in politics no matter what they believe. It just gives you the chance to share what you believe and make changes.”

Maggie Robak is a staff writer for The Triton.