Students skip ballot box over choosing between Clinton, Trump

Many UW-Madison students headed to the polls on Election Day, though one in particular didn’t vote for a presidential candidate—he casted a vote for every other position on the ballot instead.

Tuesday marked the second election Eric Underwood, a graduate student and registered Republican from Illinois, voted in; however, in 2012 he cast a vote for presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

“I just feel much better about myself not voting for anyone and not writing anyone in either,” Underwood said about casting his absentee ballot. “Just because I didn't want to write someone in that would be seen as a joke or making a joke of the votes.”

Michael Wagner, associate professor in UW-Madison’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication, said a variety of factors contribute to young people choosing not to vote in this election.

“Some of it is apathy, some of it is not feeling represented by the choices or not feeling as though candidates take them and their issues seriously,” Wagner said. “Some of it is a lack of interest in politics and some of it is a lack of contact by people running for office.”

Chip Papa, a senior at UW-Madison, was raised as a strong conservative and has always sided with the Republican Party. But to him, this election is different.

“I feel like with this election it’s kind of justifiable if you don’t vote,” Papa said. “It’s easy to be like ‘I don’t like either candidate’ and people respect that ... I haven’t really had a negative reaction.”

For this election in particular, one vote doesn’t constitute the end-all be-all difference in the election, Papa said.

Thomas Lofy, a junior, also didn’t cast his vote Tuesday, mostly due to the tense political climate this election season.

“I don’t connect with any of the candidates,” Loftus said. “They have turned this election into more of a shouting match than any other I can remember and I do not believe that the country should be run based on those principles.”

According to Lofy, Donald Trump’s alienating rhetoric along with Hillary Clinton’s publicized scandal paints the two candidates as untrustworthy and unappealing. Both also have not delved into specific policies and changes regarding national issues, Lofy said.

Though a moderate Republican, Lofy stated that “Hillary is more likeable than Trump, just not enough to move the needle for me.”

Both Papa and Lofy did not vote in the primaries.

Similarly to Lofy, Underwood takes issue with many of Clinton and Trump’s characteristics as candidates and also with how their campaigns have been conducted; it is challenging to ignore Clinton’s email scandal and Trump’s controversial remarks, Underwood said while also stating he more-so aligns with the more localized candidates.

“For me, not voting for the president, it was almost a kind of form of protest of the candidates we have to choose from,” he remarked. “I felt that me not voting was going to be more powerful for me personally than voting for a candidate that I didn’t agree with.”

“I feel as though it is not voicing your opinion stronger by not voting,” Lofy said. “It is simply another option.”

However, apathy toward the candidates and of voting in particular isn’t how Eliana Locke, press secretary for College Democrats, views the student population in Madison; the majority of students she’s interacted with appear to be excited about having their voice heard, according to Locke.

“We saw gay marriage get enacted throughout the entire country because of a political movement. We’ve seen improvements on climate change. We’ve seen improvements on women’s rights because people got involved and because people decided to be politically active,” Locke said. “I think people are excited to vote because they see they can actually make a difference.”

Although Locke mentioned the inconvenience of Wisconsin’s voter identification laws, they were not a factor mentioned by Lofy, Underwood and Papa in their decision to not vote.

“I think this election is so out of the norm from any election we've had in the past,” Underwood said. “We’re going to look back at this election in textbooks and think about how it changed everything.”

Andrew Bahl contributed to this report.