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.