With several presidential candidates making their way to Wyoming, the equality state may be facing the beginning of political season.
Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz is scheduled to visit the Hereford Ranch in Cheyenne on August 20th, with ticket prices ranging from $50 to $500. This follows Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders’ free teleconference at the Cowboy Saloon last Tuesday, July 28.
Philip Pelkey, president of the University of Wyoming Collegiate Democrats, said the Bernie Sanders event was part of a “massive movement” around the country. As Sanders and other presidential candidates campaign around the world, the collegiate Democrats will be jumpstarting their focus on UW students.
“The college Democrats will probably be doing a lot of voter outreach as we get closer [to the election],” Pelkey said. “We’ll also be hoping to find any volunteers–people who are just interested in getting active. We’ll sort of just be ramping up our operations. Shifting from issue-based ideas to talking about specific candidates.”
Participation in governmental affairs, including going out to vote, is very important, Pelkey said.
“There’s definitely a lot that voters do that can affect how government operates…” “Pelkey said. “And I guess, if for no other reason, it justifies complaining a lot more if you’ve already voted. Then is something happens, you get to complain the results.”
The College Republicans at the University of Wyoming, led by president Andrew Server, will also be trying to get students more involved in government.
“We try to inspire and educate students to political activism and to teach them that politics really does matter in your day-to-day life,” Server said.
There is a reason some politicians visit Wyoming while campaigning, Server said.
“It’s really sort of perplexing because of our Electoral College votes–we’re sort of a flyover state in that regard,” Server said. “But, I think somehow the focus on the individual, the old-fashioned ‘bring yourself up by your bootstraps’ mentality–if a candidate wants to appear as that kind of candidate, they will come here. I think Ted Cruz and in a way, Bernie Sanders, they want to appear as that sort of candidate. So they come to the state to give off that vibe and say ‘hey, look, I visited Wyoming, I’m a traditional individualist kind of candidate.’”
The College Republicans tabled every Wednesday last semester with informative literature and information about campaign issues, Server said. They will try to do the same this upcoming semester.
“We’ll also try to play some documentaries, hold some events, maybe we might try to host a debate between the Collegiate Democrats and the College Republicans…” Server said. “And, we might work with the state party in trying to get some candidates to visit.”
Robert West, also focuses on getting UW students civically engaged and voting as coordinator of the civic-engagement-focused group Pokes Vote.
“I think a lot of students here don’t realize how important even local elections are,” West said. “I mean, if you want to change things on a national level, I think it’s great to start on a local level and the state level. Then, once you get your feel for how things operate, then you can push your aspirations to the national level.”
“From my perspective, I just want to make sure that the voting process is as easy as possible for students,” West said. “I think a lot of the time, students are new to the voting process, so then they think it’s kind of cumbersome or complicated and therefore they disengage.”
In order to further simplify the voting process for students, Pokes Vote will be trying to get a polling station on campus for the presidential election, West said.
Voter turnout in Laramie has been historically bad, Connor Zink, a field organizer for Forward Wyoming, said. As such, Forward Wyoming is focused on increasing civic participation locally.
“I guess they think the same people are going to win all the elections and the same things are going to happen,” Zink said. “They think the state is just generally pretty conservative and nothing really changes that.”
However, not all hope is lost, Zink said.
“I think voting can make a huge difference because there’s not a huge population here in Laramie so one or two votes really count,” Zink said. “I was born in Chicago and one vote doesn’t really mean much there because it’s really overpopulated. But, here it’s not that big of a population and even less people vote, so coming out and voting can make a really big impact.”
