At the University of Southern California Village polling center, volunteer poll worker Machaela Gagnon wants to make voting fun.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told a bunch of kids the other day that if they bring 10 people, that I\u2019d go swimming in the pond [fountain] at 5 o\u2019clock \u2014 we\u2019ll see if they do it,\u201d Gagnon said.<\/p>\n
This year is Gagnon\u2019s 14th year helping with the election process. She was first exposed to politics at 13, when she found herself making calls and arranging rides for people to get to the polls. Being involved with politics at a young age gave Gagnon strong opinions about civic engagement.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel if you\u2019re not willing to be a change and help, don\u2019t complain,\u201d Gagnon said.<\/p>\n
USC junior and communications major Hannah Jensen emphasized Gagnon\u2019s sentiment at the polls in the Village Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cMake sure everyone gets out there and the more people we have voting, the better our voices will collectively be heard,\u201d Jensen said. \u201cI think everyone should do their own research and vote [for] what they believe in.\u201d <\/p>\n
Some students and community members voted at the polls, and others went to drop off their ballots around campus, but both acknowledged the importance of voting.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first thing I did this morning after making breakfast was coming over to vote,\u201d USC sophomore and biomedical engineering major Charles Simon said. \u201cI feel like it\u2019s been a big topic on campus to try to get everyone out to vote, and so no matter who you\u2019re voting for, I think it was important for me to get my voice in.\u201d<\/p>\n
In trying to keep young people coming, Gagnon said she noticed a trend while at the polls.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve seen a growth in younger people getting excited about it because they wanted to say that they had a fingerprint or a part in what was going on,\u201d Gagnon said. <\/p>\n
Simon confirmed his interest in participating and why he thinks it\u2019s necessary.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is my second election,\u201d Simon said. \u201cI think I\u2019ve wanted to vote because I think everyone is talking about how important it is to get your voice heard, and so I really wanted to make sure that I had my opinion counted with everyone else\u2019s.\u201d <\/p>\n
Gagnon encourages young voters to take their future into their own hands.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe old folks have screwed this thing up beyond belief,\u201d Gagnon said. \u201cIt\u2019s you guys who are going to fix it; you\u2019re the ones that are voting, that are going to be changing things 10 years from now. We don\u2019t want this to be a negative experience for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trojans like sophomore and business administration major Jessica Lemus found Gagnon\u2019s efforts helpful.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was actually very quick. I was expecting it to be a little longer, especially because I\u2019m technically registered outside of L.A. County, but they were super helpful with it,\u201d Lemus said. \u201cThey were super quick to show me what to do and where to go, especially because it was my first time voting here in L.A. That was very nice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Simon advised students to do what they can, even if it doesn\u2019t seem like much.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s pretty easy to not submit a ballot, but I think even filling in one or two bubbles is better than submitting nothing at all, so I encourage everyone to go vote if they can,\u201d Simon said.<\/p>\n
Joshua Santhirasegari, a USC junior and quantitative biology major, shared his experience voting and why he did a mail-in ballot.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just wanted to make sure I read everything, done all my research and made sure I knew what I\u2019m doing before I\u2019m voting,\u201d Santhirasegari said. \u201cDoing a drop-off ballot made it a little more easier for me, and it also gave me a couple more days to really think about who I was voting for and what props I\u2019m looking at.\u201d<\/p>\n
USC sophomore Cristobal Marquez, majoring in health promotion and disease prevention, expressed his gratitude for the systems that USC set up.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is kind of my first big election, so I\u2019m just happy that USC really supported us in this,\u201d Marquez said. <\/p>\n
Gagnon shared advice that applies to any election, not just this one. <\/p>\n
\u201cGo out and see what it\u2019s like,\u201d Gagnon said. \u201cSee what people are talking about, experience it for yourself. Go talk to the individuals who are experiencing that. That\u2019s the only way you\u2019re going to hear the true story.\u201d<\/p>\n
Emma Hine, a USC sophomore who is majoring in AI for business, expressed her feelings about the election\u2019s results.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have faith it will all go well,\u201d Hine said. \u201cWe\u2019ll see tonight how it goes. We\u2019ll see throughout the week.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whether voting is done with a pen or a tap of an iPad, the experience can be universal for those eligible to vote. Poll workers like Gagnon try to make voting more fun and one that Trojans want to participate in. Sometimes, the process needs explaining or a helping hand. Sometimes, it takes a village. <\/p>\n
With the polls at the USC Village now closed, maybe, just maybe, Trojans will find Gagnon swimming in the fountain.<\/p>\n
Edited by Ally Nakamura<\/a> and Bennet Weinschenk <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At the University of Southern California Village polling center, volunteer poll worker Machaela Gagnon wants to make voting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":517997,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[48,52,51,47,50,49,26291,3533,3773,1710],"class_list":["post-517996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-poll-worker","tag-usc","tag-usc-village","tag-voting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=517996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517996\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/517997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=517996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=517996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=517996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}