The two clubs, BYU College Democrats and College Republicans, are participating in the Utah primary election in different ways.
This year most candidates on the ballot are Republican. The BYU College Republicans are planning on encouraging students to share their opinions.
Debra Andersen, 24, the BYU College Republican President from Provo, said that she is counseling fellow club members to vote and volunteer.
“We are going to be letting our club members know how they can get involved and how they can volunteer at each of the voting stations,” Andersen said.
Although the Democratic races are fewer and less intense, College Democrat President Ben Ader, from Knoxville, Tenn., is excited to see how the primary race for Republican senator ends up.
“The race between Dan Liljenquist and Orrin Hatch is very interesting,” the 22-year-old, political science major said. “From my experience I think Dan is a far more conservative candidate and Orrin Hatch has been there for 36 years, he’s the incumbent, and he seems to fit the general Utah ideology. [Utahns] have conservative values, but they aren’t—from my understanding—as Tea Party extreme-right some as of Dan Liljenquist’s views. As far as I can tell, [Dan] is putting up a good fight. He is making it a pretty tight race.”
In the primary, there are four Democratic seats on the ballot and only one of those is at the national level for US House of Representatives. For Ader, however, the most exciting part of the primary is to see who wins the nomination for senate and will end up on the ballot against Scott Howell this November.
“I think from name recognition and having been there so long, and people are okay with the things he has done, Orrin Hatch will get the nomination,” Ader said.
College Democrats and Republicans are not the only students involved in the election.
“I don’t know why people wouldn’t want to put in their opinion,” said AnnaLisa Maddox, 19, a regular voter from American Fork. “I certainly want my opinion heard. I’m always excited to vote because I get to choose and put my part in the say of how this country will be run.”
From now until the general election on November 6, both clubs have plans to expand and gain attraction of students just like Maddox to their clubs through debates and volunteering.
“I expect that a lot of our members will be very involved in the Romney campaign,” Andersen said. “We will be directing students to locations where they can help with fundraising and phone calls off campus.”
The Democrats also have extensive plans.
“We are going to be coordinating with the Obama for America campaign, based in Salt Lake, to have trips to Colorado to do canvasing because Colorado is a very important swing state. We also have a list of candidates that we want the students to get involved with locally, for example, Scott Howell. We are also planning a mini-debate series.”
For one of the debates, the clubs are even exploring the idea of professors debating the issues.
In addition, both clubs are targeting the incoming freshman to get them involved in their clubs. Both clubs are planning on setting up a booth for New Student Orientation this fall in the Wilkinson Student Center. More information is available at each of the clubs’ Facebook pages.
The Utah’s primary election is Tuesday, June 26. If you are interested in Utah Voter registration dates and forms, visit vote.utah.gov/register-to-vote.
