Professors praise young voters, predict effects from midterms

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PAGE 3 • THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2018

Professors praise young voters, predict effects from midterms

AMRITA MALUR/TECHNICIAN Rep. David Price speaks to Wayne Goodwin, chairman of the North Carolina Democratic Party, at the democratic election watch party on Tuesday, Nov. 6. David Price, the incumbent representative of North Carolina’s fourth district, won against Republican opponent Steve Von Loor and Libertarian Barbara Howe to retain his House seat.

George Willoughby

Correspondent

Two NC State professors have attributed last week’s election results to a high young voter turnout and predicted little change to students and universities in North Carolina.

Last week’s midterm elections saw the Democrats break the three-fifths supermajority held by Republicans in the N.C. House and Senate. The supermajority allowed Republicans to override 20 of Governor Roy Cooper’s 25 vetoes.

Andrew Taylor and Steven Greene, professors of political science, credited the Democratic-leaning youth vote and higher turnout as key to Democratic gains.

“You put those two facts together, and you can’t help but conclude that young voters were somewhat important to Democratic gains across the country,” Taylor said. “And particularly in places in Wake County, where NC State students aren’t particularly different than others, but because Wake County and many of the legislative districts are sort of suburban and therefore battlegrounds, they could have made the difference in helping some legislators get over the hump.”

However, this could change in the future, depending on how the new voter ID amendment is written into law, according to Greene. North Carolina’s previous attempt at a voter ID law was struck down when a three-judge panel of the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals found that the law was created with “discriminatory intent.”

Greene explained that a voter ID law will likely be pushed through before the end of the General Assembly’s current session.

“That will be a big deal because they will, without a doubt, try and write a law in a way that disadvantages Democraticleaning voter groups,” Greene said. “We saw this most dramatically in 2013, with the way it disadvantaged college students.”

Despite this, Greene said he expects to see a more moderate North Carolina General Assembly.

“Now the Republican legislature actually has to compromise with the governor rather than just overriding him on everything,” Greene said. “It brings Democrats back into the legislative process again, basically.”

According to Taylor, a new General Assembly session could raise questions over the funding of the UNC System.

“The size of state appropriations – whether it should be a tiny little increase or a bit of a cut or last year’s figure – that’s what they’re going to be fighting over,” Taylor said.

Taylor cited the UNC System’s reliance on taxpayer dollars in comparison to other states as a reason for a possible change.

“Even some Democrats have realized we’re a little out of whack with many of our peers,” Taylor said. “So, maybe it’s not that bad if we try to wean the UNC System off of taxpayer dollars a little bit.”

Greene said that the UNC System could benefit from a moderate General Assembly.

“The fact that you’re going to have to have a more bipartisan process for funding in the next two years should be good for the UNC System,” Greene said.

Despite potential changes to the funding of the UNC System, Greene predicted little change to student life.

“I don’t expect you’ll see dramatic changes, Greene said. “For your typical college student, you’re not really going to notice any differences.”

SARA TRUDAN/TECHNICIAN Campaign signs for midterm elections outside of the Pullen Park Community Center on Tuesday, Nov. 6.

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PAGE 4 • THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2018

SG monthly updates promote initiatives and transparency

Willow Sarac

Correspondent

As part of an ongoing initiative to improve transparency among the student body, the Student Government (SG) has begun publishing monthly updates for students, which are included as part of the weekly HOWL.

“The monthly updates are great, because there’s a lot of behind-the-scenes work that we do that is not as obvious as putting on an event on campus,” said Meredith Spence-Beaulieu, student body vice president and graduate student studying entomology.

The monthly updates help provide a clear, concise picture of what Student Government accomplishes each month.

“Along with other tools like our platform progress page on the SG website, this helps with transparency by communicating the things that we are working on to the general student body in public and easy-to-digest ways,” Spence-Beaulieu said.

According to Taylor Pulliam, the director of communications for SG and a fourth-year studying political science, the monthly updates have increased student engagement and made it easier for all students to receive necessary information pertaining to Student Government.

“A lot of the stuff that happens is hard to digest unless you sit down and read through it,” Pulliam said.

In addition to the monthly updates in the HOWL, the communications team also shares updates through Facebook and Twitter.

“These posts have been the highestshared on our social media pages,” Pulliam said.

The posts also helped reach students who might not otherwise be aware of what goes on in Student Government.

“Students have said to me, ‘I didn’t know this is something Student Government did,’” Pulliam said.

Last week’s monthly updates included information on the proposal for genderinclusive housing, information on the early voting location in Talley Student Union and updates on decisions related to tuition and fees, among other things.

“It also has the added benefit of keeping us accountable to our platform and making sure that we are making progress on things each and every month,” Spence-Beaulieu said.

Although the monthly updates generally consist of initiatives that come from the executive branch, Student Senate President Adam Schmidt, a third-year studying civil engineering, explained how the monthly updates reflect Student Government as a whole.

“A lot of senators are currently researching issues that they’re passionate about, or trying to compare what we do at NC State to other institutions in the UNC System or our peer institutions,” Schmidt said. “They’re getting the ball rolling on some of their projects that they’re working on.”

The monthly updates help publicize some of these projects, such as the ongoing initiative to encourage the use of green books made from recycled paper instead of blue books, as well as a proposal to change the policies surrounding multiple exams in one week.

“Producing monthly updates was not a part of Jess and my campaign platform,” Spence-Beaulieu said. “Although it has always been a goal of ours to be transparent and communicative with our actions, so this fits in nicely with that goal.”

COURTESY OF STUDENT GOVERNMENT COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT SEPTEMBER MONTH IN REVIEW COURTESY OF STUDENT GOVERNMENT COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT