Photo Courtesy BYU-Idaho College Republicans
The Republican Party recruited 148 BYU-Idaho students last week to help campaign for the party in Virginia and to encourage people to vote.

BYU-Idaho student volunteers campaign for Republican Party in Virginia

Allison Walker WAL04015@BYUI.EDU Campus Asst. Editor

College-age, LDS young men and women knocking on doors is nothing new, but this time they’re not wearing name tags or passing out copies of The Book of Mormon, but wearing casual clothes and passing out literature encouraging people to vote.

BYU-Idaho students answered the request of the National Republican Party to volunteer in Virginia to help campaign for the state election last week.

The Republican Party called on BYU-I two days before the departure date last year to help in a campaign in Colorado. They were so impressed with the six clean-cut, well-mannered and hard-working returned missionaries, that BYU-I was one of the first-priority schools called on to help, said Tanner Nielsen, a junior from Columbus, Ohio, and the president of the College Republicans.

Nielsen and others announced the request for volunteers everywhere possible.The result was more than anyone expected: 190 students volunteered to participate.

“At first we were really geeked out, to be honest, and super enthusiastic,” Nielsen said. “And [the Republican Party] was a little taken aback.”

The Republican Party was looking for about 500 volunteers to go door to door in several cities in Virginia to encourage republicans to vote. They were only expecting 10-15 students from each school and they had to unexpectedly limit BYU-Idaho to 148, about one-third of the total 500 volunteers.

Nielsen said they are excited to have had this opportunity not only from a political standpoint, but also to represent the Church.

“We’re accomplishing a lot of goals. [Virginians] see us not just in a church setting, but doing civic volunteer work and being active in politics,” Nielsen said.

It’s also an opportunity to show many people in the area that members of the Church are Christian. “It’s also a great way to identify us with something other than young men in a white shirt and tie,” he said.

These volunteers worked all over the state of Virginia. Paul Dean, a senior from Samamish, Wash., and Joe Strickland, a sophomore from Martinez, Calif., were two students, who went to campaign.

“We were able to get people out to vote who weren’t planning on voting,” Dean said.

Both were glad to have the chance to support the Republican Party and make a difference. “We made over 1.5 million contacts in some way or another in that time period,” Strickland said.

While the republican candidate for governor lost, the republican lieutenant governor and attorney general candidates won by small margins.

“I learned that every vote really does count; it’s not just something people say,” Strickland said.

Strickland and Dean ended up doing more than just getting Virginians to vote.

“[This experience] gave me insight into running a campaign for when I run for a judge position in the future,” Dean said. And Strickland learned he definitely wanted a career in politics.

Though their mission wasn’t to preach the gospel, they were able to spread exposure to the Church in some way.

“A lot of people didn’t know much about the Church or had never met Mormons before, and they asked questions that we were able to answer,” Dean said. “People realized that Mormons were actually Christians and it just gave people more contact with members of the Church.”

Overall, the experience was good for all involved. BYU-I students helped turn out the vote in Virginia, get experience for possible future careers and spread exposure to the gospel.