UMaine students voice reactions to gubernatorial election results

ORONO, ME-- The race for Maine’s next governor ended in a slim victory when Waterville mayor, Republican Paul Lepage, secured a 7,500-vote lead over Independent Eliot Cutler.


Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap projected a 55 percent voter turnout for the midterm election. Orono citizens contributed more than 3,000 electoral votes when students and community members showed up to exercise their 15^th Amendment at the polls on Nov. 2.


Volunteer Conrad Griffin noticed a significant amount of students yesterday at the Orono town office polling location. “There was a noticeable amount of students,” said Griffin. “Many first-time voters. They seemed very appreciative of the chance to vote.”


Orono town warden, Tom Perry, said that the voter turnout at the town office was consistent all day and had increased since the last election, but not by a significant amount. He estimated that students contributed to one quarter of the votes cast at the town office.


The polling location on the University of Maine campus, where campus residents contributed 623 votes to Orono’s precincts, was also consistent throughout the day.  State representative opponents, Democrat Emily Cain and Republican Zachary Jackman, greeted students as they stood in line.


“I always worry about the people who don’t show up to the polls,” said Rep. Cain, who voiced her concerns about the voting process. She said that it is worrisome when students do not believe that they connect with any of the issues on the ballot.


Jackman nodded in agreement with Rep. Cain, “people might feel that their vote won’t matter,” he said.


For the students that did show up to cast their vote, opinions and methods varied widely.


Fourth-year Jason Pote said that he did not conduct a lot of “time-consuming research” before casting his vote for LePage. “I wanted to vote, so I voted,” said Pote. “I won’t be devastated if LePage doesn’t win."


Graham Lawry, a third-year student, said that after less than 5 minutes of browsing the Internet, he too had decided to vote for LePage. “Personally, I’m not invested in [the election],” said Lawry, who explained that he did not feel connected to Maine politics because he was not planning to stay in the state after graduation.


First-year Karen Briggs, had a different outlook. After speaking to her Republican parents and Democratic friends, Briggs decided to vote for Independent Eliot Cutler. Briggs said that after several hours of research she “felt like [Lepage and Democrat Libby Mitchell] were too far to either side”.


“I am worried because I feel like a lot of uneducated people are voting,” said fourth-year student Amelia Butman.  “There are two really good candidates and it’s terrible that a lot of people with the same values are torn."


Local Orono restaurant, The Roost, was lively Tuesday night as students and community members gathered to watch the election results trickle in.


“I’m pretty involved with politics,” said graduate-student Matt Donahue. “I think it’s important to be educated on [political issues]”.


Donahue sat with a group of fellow students and debated over the candidate’s issues and plans for Maine. “It’s a reality that state government needs to be reduced,” said Donahue. “I agree with Cutler’s policy to do that.”


Donahue said that he would “absolutely” be disappointed if Cutler didn’t win the election but “it’s important to make the best of the situation and support the winning candidate”.


Graduate-student Dan Curtis sat across from Donahue and said that after two nights of research during the primary election, he had decided to support LePage via an absentee ballot. Curtis said that his support was “more of a fundamental issue” about the way LePage “approached problems”. Curtis disagreed with Donahue’s support for Cutler and compared the two leading candidates.


“Cutler uses government to solve problems,” said Curtis. “LePage believes that government is the problem.”


After a long night of undecided precincts, LePage was named Maine’s next governor Wednesday afternoon, and student opinions were divided.


“I’m just more worried than anything,” said fourth-year student Kyle Foster who said that his concern stemmed from LePage’s “lack of decision-making abilities”.


“I'm excited especially since the Maine House and Maine Senate both went Republican,” said fourth-year student Tim Woodman. “It means there's going to be a lot of change, which the state needs”.


To view more student opinions and reactions to the gubernatorial race, visit the student-created journalism project, Maine Voters’ Feedback, on Facebook.

PSA: Why is it important for women to educate themselves on political issues?

This is a public service announcement that I created about the importance on women educating themselves politically and getting involved in political advocacy.

Maine students host Prepare Maine Gubernatorial Candidate Forum

A crowd of nearly 300 students, parents and community members gathered at Bangor High School’s Peaks Auditorium on Wed., Oct. 27 for the Prepare Maine Gubernatorial Candidate Forum. The event was student-run and sponsored by the Maine Coalition for Excellence in Education and WABI-TV.

The forum began the candidates’ biographies, which were written and presented by students. The presenters came from all over Maine, ranging in age from 12 years old to 18 years old.

The five candidates were asked student-written and presented questions pertaining to issues such as energy policy, job creation and healthcare. The most discussed topic of the evening was education.

A student from Bangor High School asked the candidates how they would address the 20 percent drop-out rate that affects Maine’s school systems.

All of the candidates focused their answers on ways to create more student interest in learning.

Republican Paul LePage believed that Maine’s education should become a “learn to earn” environment, in which high school students have the opportunity to gain college credit, and a possible associates degree, while still in school.

Democrat Libby Mitchell suggested that hands-on learning become more prevalent in education, and vocational and co-op programs be more accessible to students.

Independent Shawn Moody, who became a business entrepreneur at 17, stood by Sen. Mitchell on this issue and stressed that Maine education should “redirect students into curriculums that work for them,” which may not necessarily mean college.

Independent Eliot Cutler said that longer school years, and rewards for teachers will improve Maine’s education system. Cutler suggested that Maine work on “developing teachers” so that they are better able to serve students.

Independent Kevin Scott said giving students the opportunity to voice their needs will allow Maine to create solutions in education.

Representatives from organizations such as Opportunity Maine and the Maine Women’s Lobby were in attendance at the forum. Sarah Standiford, executive director of the Maine Women’s Lobby, said that “it isn’t an option” for students to not vote in this election. “This election is a very unique time for Maine,” said Standiford, “Maine could move in a very different direction”.

First-year Bangor High School student, Bryan Palma, said that even though he is too young to vote, he still has an opinion on this election. “I am supporting Cutler because of his innocence in which he isn’t primarily involved in the nagging,” said Palma.

After the forum, all of the candidates could agree on at least one thing, Maine is a state worth fighting for. Sen. Mitchell quoted one of the most well-known Maine advocates in history, Henry David Thoreau, in saying “why would anyone go West? When Maine has everything”.

To view coverage of the Prepare Maine forum and to research how the gubernatorial candidates stand on issues such as education, visit Prepare Maine. To read about how the candidates have used social networking throughout their campaigns, visit Bryan Roche’sreport. To see what Maine student’s know about the upcoming election, visit Amy Becker’sreport.

Maine women show concern for the upcoming gubernatorial election

ORONO, ME-- More than 90 years have passed since the 19th Amendment was added to the U.S. Constitution, allowing American women the right to vote. Since then, women’s political involvement has become more prevalent throughout the United States and within the state of Maine.

Sixty years ago, Margaret Chase Smith took the seat of her deceased husband in the U.S. House of Representatives, and Maine became the first state to send a woman to the U.S. Congress. Today, women make up 17 percent of the Congress and 30 percent of the Maine state legislature, however they have never seen the Blaine House.

“We have a long way to go before we have equal representation on the ballot,” said Rep. Emily Cain. Rep. Cain has served three terms in the Maine House for district 19, and she is campaigning for her fourth.

Rep. Cain said that gender has always been an issue within her own political career and it is “absolutely an issue” in this upcoming gubernatorial race.

Gubernatorial candidate, Democrat Libby Mitchell, is the only woman in the United States to serve as both senate president and speaker of the house. Although Mitchell displays substantial political experience, Rep. Cain said that as the only woman in the gubernatorial race, Mitchell’s gender could pose as a threat.

Not only are women on the ballot, but they are in the voting booths as well.  According to a blog post by the Nonprofit Voter Engagement Network, the voter turnout for women now equals or exceeds the amount for men, causing women to be a highly targeted group in this year’s gubernatorial race. Organizations such as the Maine Women’s Lobby and the Maine Civil Liberties Union are stressing the importance of the female vote.

Ann Schonberger is the director of the University of Maine women’s studies department. When asked if she was afraid of the possible turnout for the gubernatorial race, she simply replied “yes”. Schonberger stressed the importance of young women researching this election and keeping women’s issues in mind when they look into this year’s gubernatorial candidates. “[Young women] don’t remember when it wasn’t possible to be able to choose whether you’ll have a baby or not,” said Schonberger.

Schonberger said that reproductive rights, sexual and domestic violence prevention and equal pay are just some of the women’s issues that are at stake by this year’s election. “There is still a lot of work that needs to be done,” she said.

Rep. Cain also said that the women’s rights movement is far from over. “Maybe the feminist movement has a new face,” said Rep. Cain “but I would say it is even more relevant than before”.

The gubernatorial candidates continue to have varying opinions on women’s issues, and women all over Maine are taking these opinions into consideration.

Carey Nason is a social worker and coordinator of the University of Maine Safe Campus Project. Nason said that she was most concerned about the affects that this election could have on social welfare programs.

Amelia Butman is a fourth-year student at the University of Maine, who said that she is concerned about how the outcome of this election will affect her education.

Kathryn Card is a fourth-year University of Maine student. Card said that marriage equality and reproductive rights are important issues to her.

To learn more about women’s involvement in politics and other women’s issues by visiting the Maine Women’s Lobby, the Maine Civil Liberties Union and A Rising Tide.

To read about how Maine's youth are affected by the upcoming election, visit Amy Becker's report. To learn about what Maine's educators think about the gubernatorial race, visit Bryan Roche's report. 

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