By Emma Mayorga
TAMPA – Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections Craig Latimer recalled the low voter turnout of the last local election where 26% of people showed up to the polls ultimately deciding who was elected for the other 74%.
“If you got a vote-by-mail ballot, I mailed it to you so you knew there was an election. If you didn’t get a vote-by-mail ballot, I sent you a sample ballot. Right? So as I told her earlier, I sent the invitation out. If you ignored the invitation to the party, that’s not my fault,” Latimer said.
Craig Latimer spoke to students during National Voter Education Week at the University of South Florida on Oct. 8. Latimer shared his thoughts on the importance of local elections and voter turnout. He said Hillsborough county sees a significant drop between the presidential election, primaries, and general races. Latimer is in his fourth term as the county’s Supervisor of Elections.
“I will tell you, we’ve got people that just walk in at a presidential election, vote for president, and walk out. And I know for anybody else, we will have a 30,000-vote drop in a presidential election for president in the next seat, the U.S. Senate seat, usually,” Latimer said.
Latimer emphasized the significant impact young voters can have on local elections. While the age range of 60- 80-year-olds is the largest number of voters in the county, the age range of 18-25 is the second largest in Hillsborough.
As young adults begin participating in local elections, it’s important to understand the voting process and what efforts college students might need to put in. Many students commute from different counties surrounding Hillsborough to attend USF. For some students who wish to vote in their local general elections, they must head home to their district precinct or know when to request a vote by mail ballot.
For Zhong Yu Zheng, a freshman studying political science, he isn’t deterred as he’s taking the time to understand what he must do to play his part in the voting process.
“Nope, voting seemed very straightforward in the primary. My polling location on Election Day is very close to where I live, so that won’t be a problem for me. There’s also plenty of time and places to vote early before Election Day for me too,” Zheng said.
USF students do seem to have a firm understanding on how voting on a college campus will work. However, for some students it’s a lot of effort to return home, and requesting a mail ballot now requires nearly a two-month advance. Senior psychology student Kiernan Vallone is originally from Orange county and said she will not be returning home to vote because she’s only ever done it by mail.
“I don’t know where to vote since I have previously only voted by mail,” Vallone said.
Valentina runs a table to help provide voter information and register young voters during National Voter Education Week. Photo by Emma Mayorga.
For college students, it is challenging to find resources about voting back home since the USF Tampa campus mainly advertises for Hillsborough County. Also, Florida has made it more tedious to register as a voter and request a ballot. Craig Latimer is doing his part to ensure students and citizens of the county remain educated, even those who are unable to vote yet.
“Valentina and our outreach teams are in every single high school at least twice a year. And civics class is the class that we go to because that’s a mandatory class that the kids have to take. We’re there to pre-register 16- and 17-year-olds.” Latimer said.