| For many students at BYU-Idaho, Rexburg is the place they attend school, but not considered home. Whatever they may not want to admit, Rexburg is ‘home’ for eight months of the year.
For that reason, the College Democrats chose to stay local to do campaign work.
“We were offered [the chance] to go elsewhere, but we want to show people here at BYU-I and Idaho that you can be a member and a Democrat,” said Peter Nguyen, a junior from Portland, Ore. “I live here eight months out of the year and I want to give something back, which I can do by electing good people.”
The College Democrats felt that it was great opportunity to stay local and get support from students while also working to raise awareness of the issues and candidates, said Ileana Ortiz, a junior from Torrance, Calif., and president of the College Democrats.
Each person in the College Democrats worked at a job that interested him or her to help this campaign year.
For Nguyen, his day as assistant communication director for “Brady for Idaho Governor” begins at 8 a.m.
“I talk to press, send out press releases, and help craft messages,” Nguyen said. He enjoyed the chance to help people get to know Brady.
The College Democrats were able to help by knocking on doors and making phone calls. On Saturday, the group went around and stuffed mailboxes.
“We helped to get word out that Jerry Brady was coming on campus by using word-of-mouth and Facebook,” said Andy Hendrickson, a senior from Spokane, Wash.
Even if a student is not a member of the College Republicans or College Democrats, there are several things to do to get involved.
“I would encourage others to get involved by becoming aware of the issues, whether they are national, international or local,” Ortiz said. “We need to realize that the choices made will affect us, therefore making it a priority to understand the issues.”
Nguyen warns students against feeling they are involved but doing nothing.
“A lot of students watch national news like FOX News or CNN and think they are involved,” Nguyen said. “This is not true. They are giving power to the federal government. They need to know more about what’s happening with local government because that is most important to preserve the community.”
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Hitting up a neighborhood might not seem like something that’s legal. But in the campaigning sense it’s exactly what the Republican National Committee is using BYU-Idaho students for.
The BYU-I College Republicans have been helping the RNC campaign since 2004.
“What is normal for performance among our students here turns out to be high performance from other perspectives,” said Ronald Nate, a professor of the Economics Department. “In reality, the College Republicans are anything but apathetic.”
Nate said that the chairman of the RNC mentioned BYU-I specifically in a speech he gave and called the College Republicans and thanked them for their efforts as well.
“They’ve provided excellent and welcomed volunteer help for Republican candidates,” said Tucker Bounds, spokesperson for the RNC.
A close gubernatorial race in Virginia in 2005 prompted the RNC to call BYU-I to get all the volunteers they could. Even though 200 volunteers were found, only 140 were able to go. Trapper Yates, a senior from Tremonton, Utah, was one of those volunteers and described a normal day in the life of a campaigner.
Yates would get up at 8 a.m. and go to the RNC office. He would be assigned to knock doors or make phone calls for 11-12 hours.
Even with all the work involved, Yates said it was fun and he started doing it because he wanted an extracurricular activity.
“You’re out there making a difference,” said Stacie Ommen, a senior from Lincoln, Calif., and the treasurer for the College Republicans. “It sounds cliché, but it’s true — it’s such an awesome feeling.”
Ommen, along with 199 other volunteers from the College Republicans, are went to campaign this year in Iowa, Florida, Tennessee, Missouri and Michigan starting Friday, Nov. 3 and ending Wednesday, Nov. 8.
Since campaigning, Yates said he’s started watching the news more closely and has paid more attention to the candidate, not the party.
Nate said the candidates and a sense of civic duty are the main reasons students campaign.
“Our students have high values themselves and want to see their country run by people with similar values,” Nate said. “The RNC lets us campaign for candidates we like.”
But even if students aren’t traveling across the country to campaign for a candidate of their choice, they can still get involved, Ommen said.
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