Eye on the Triangle

Emilia Rivadeneira
Thank you Santa Monica- thank you, Santa Monica College, as we continue with our 24 hour live broadcast, I am Emilia Rivadeneira a senior at North Carolina State University and the host of Eye on the Triangle our community news show here at our radio station, WKNC 88.1 I'll be reporting live from North Carolina, a key battleground state in this election, and tonight, I'm joined with Mac McCorkle, professor of the practice in the Stanford School of Public Policy at Duke University, and Elizabeth Lane, assistant professor of political science at North Carolina State University. Thank you both for being here with us tonight. I know that you know it's a late hour to be just awake. Um, but yeah, now let's dive right into it. The polls have closed, and about, you know, like a lot of votes have been casted, and according to the Associated Press, Donald Trump has been announced to win North Carolina, which kind of narrows just like Harris' path into just like the general election. And I wanted to ask you both, what does this mean for us?

Elizabeth Lane
Do you want to go first?

Mac McCorkle
Yeah, Elizabeth, you go, you go,

Elizabeth Lane
Yeah. So I was, I'm just getting all of this information at the same time as everybody else, and I think that what is being reported broadly right is that what is key is the blue wall still right. So even if Harris loses Georgia and North Carolina, which is projected right now, the path for her victory would still be through Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, although, as I was leaving my television to come into this room. I don't remember if I had on NBC or CNN had switched Michigan to red as I was standing up, I didn't have time to listen to what they were saying. And so that is obviously getting tighter. But that being said, there are still votes to be counted, and they will count them all.

Mac McCorkle
I agree. You know it again, the Democratic hopes for North Carolina were frustrated, and it looks like that. I guess Biden lost by about a about 70,000 and vice president Harris, maybe is on track to lose, you know, around 140 540,000 something, maybe less, a little bit more. But and the paradox continues, because not only is Stein, Attorney General Stein winning handily. It looks like the demo- some of the Democratic candidates have put some distance at the Council of State. So they will, Democrats will win some of the Council of State, maybe the Supreme Court. That's closer. So the paradox of North Carolina is, you know, most southern states just are straight red, and North Carolina still has this blue streak at the state level, not at the federal level.

Emilia Rivadeneira
Yeah, yeah. And I, actually, I'm glad that you bring that up, because I wanted to touch on, like, specifically, just like, the governor's race and how, like, you know, just saying as Democrat has also been announced, as you know, to be the winner of the governor's race. And just how that balance and like dynamic between having a Democrat on the governor's position and then, you know, we still are not sure of the General Assembly, like, both in the NC house. And so, like, I wanted to ask you both, how, like, you know, if, if the House and the Senate kind of like, flips to Democrat, how do you see the power dynamics shifting if Democrats are able to kind of break that super majority that is now set in, you know, the General Assembly.

Mac McCorkle
Well, you know, if the Democrats break it there, there are two ways to, you know, break the super majority, to really break it and have the Democrats competitive. A competitive force in at least one chamber or both. I think we're probably near the possibility of where the Democrats might break it by one vote or so. So the what happens really in those situations is the Republicans still are ineffective, strong control, they just have to cut compromise deals with some Democrats, which makes the caucus mad and makes it more inefficient. But just being one or two off from the super majority is not really breaking the super majority and and so governor, Governor to be Stein, has, you know, obviously wants that to happen, but the Republicans still are in effective- effective control in the state legislature. I think again, maybe the numbers we'll find are different in the when we finally look at the State House and Senate races, but

Elizabeth Lane
yeah, I agree on that. I think that there's going to be, he's going to have a tough road ahead of him to accomplish any of his policy objectives, given the divided government that we have in the state. I think it's really striking though, that we have these state level races, right, falling for the Democrats. We have these local races and a solid majority for Republicans amongst the assembly, and then the presidential race going for Trump, right? So that means that we also have people that are making distinct decisions in the voting booth, right to vote for President Trump and then vote for Democrats at the state level, or perhaps not voting for president, which is what I've seen reported in some counties, there's a there's a vote differential in the number between the number of votes for president and the number of votes for like the gubernatorial race, which I think is really striking, and saying that, you know, voters are actually making a decision about who they want to support, and it's not just among on partisan lines, which is in our current political environment that's so polarized. Quite striking.

Mac McCorkle
Yeah, I think Elizabeth's on to something there, because the again, it may have changed since, since we got on here, but it looked to be at least 100,000 or more, maybe 150 more people voting in the presidential race than in the gubernatorial. And then the gubernatorial and the Council of State look very similar, and that may well be the the single shot or shotgun. What do you call it? Trump voters, occasional voters who went in and voted for Trump and then said, the heck with trying to figure this, the rest of this out. So the it looks like the Democrats will win with a slightly smaller electorate, that that that did not that voted in the presidential race, is going to have way more vote, not way more votes, but a significantly more votes than the good governor's race in this council state races again, we'll have to see that how it all shakes out. But that's how it looks like right now. Is that there some people who just voted in the presidential race and and went home?

Emilia Rivadeneira
Yeah, and that is really interesting. What you're mentioning right now. Why do you think this is kind of, like, you know, happening right now, specifically in, like, the for the 2024 election, like people just like going to the polls and then, like, making a decision for the presidential ticket, but not for state elections. I feel like that's just kind of, you know, is there a trend there that we're seeing? Or-

Mac McCorkle
I want to go back and look at that for the other for- for previous years, and- and- and see how that that holds up for Trump. It is part of this unique it may be part of the unique nature of Donald Trump's appeal, that he kind of pulls people out of the woodwork, you know, people who aren't real interested in politics otherwise, and don't, and really aren't excited about the Republicans. And also, I think, in Elizabeth comment, but I think it also in this particular case, a lot of people probably said, I don't want to get involved with the Mark Robinson issue, so I'll go vote for Trump. And maybe just, you know, said I'm not going to I'm not going to go there, I'll just vote for Trump and go home.

Elizabeth Lane
Yeah, I think I again. Don't know what it is, you know, if there is a pattern with Trump in this occurring previously, and I think that that is a good point, right? That that maybe he does bring these people out of the woodwork. But we do know that presidential races are different, right? These are high information races, where people, I mean, just think of the sheer number of commercials. The ads that you've seen on social media, plus we're hearing, I don't know, I haven't seen the numbers for North Carolina specifically, but we've heard about record amounts of first time voter turnout and young voter turnout, right? And so if you are like, Yeah, I'm gonna go vote, but you haven't done research on these other races, what we call we call that like voter roll off, right? Essentially, you vote for the up ticket, the higher ticket races. So typically, that's president, governor, and if we had a Senate race, and then maybe you don't worry about the lower ticket races, referendums and things like that. And so that isn't uncommon, but to see it at this magnitude, I think for between President and governor, and I think probably Mark Robinson has something to do with it, there was a lot of speculation as to whether he would even cause like, negativity down ballot for some of the other Republicans. And so maybe it is a consequence of, like, kind of all of these things happening.

Emilia Rivadeneira
Yeah, and I'm glad that you, you both bring Robinson up because I, one of my questions was actually going to be, Did Mark Robinson's just like performance affected the down ballot races, particularly in just like the council of state races. What are your opinions on that?

Mac McCorkle
Again, we'll need to see how how it finally shakes out. But yes, I would say that it looks like Mark Robinson. The count the difference in the council of state races is only 2% right now at the most, and it was double digits with Mark Robinson, but yeah, you think of a Republican governor candidate who either wins like Trump or barely loses you the you would think that the Council of the Republican Council of State people down the ticket would have been helped by that. And when you know when your standard bearer loses by double digits, that's just not good news.

Emilia Rivadeneira
Yeah. And now kind of moving to the North Carolina Supreme Court race. This race is just like important to as it could shift the ideological balance of the state's highest court. So I wanted to ask you, How significant is this race in shaping North Carolina's judicial landscape, especially with abortion and voting rights likely at stake during this election season?

Elizabeth Lane
Yeah, so the race is between Allison Riggs and Jefferson Griffin. I think a lot of people probably haven't even heard their name in this election cycle because there has been so much attention to the other races. So Allison Riggs was appointed by the governor, and she is now up for re election. She is technically the incumbent. She was appointed by the governor after the previous person who held her seat left to run for governor, and so the current balance of the court is five Republicans and two Democrats. So she were to win which as of the moment I am saying this, 92% of votes have been reported, and she's up 50.2% to 49.8% so I mean, this is still so so close. If she were to win, it would maintain the balance of the court, as is, status quo would be maintained. That being said, this race is so important, because in two years Anita Earls, the other Democrat on the North Carolina Supreme Court, is up for re election. She must win, because in 2028 there are three Republicans on the court up for re election. So if the Democrats want to retake the majority on the North Carolina Supreme Court before the next redistricting, redistricting cycle which we saw how important that was in this last cycle, with the Moore v. Harper case making its way all the way up to the United States Supreme Court, they have to win this race in order to be competitive and have A chance to retake the majority prior to the next census. So that is why, although this race may not have that immediate impact that Democrats would expect, it is significant for the long game for Democrats in the state of North Carolina.

Mac McCorkle
I agree, yeah, if the Democrats go down six-one and easily then go down, it could easily go down seven-0, they really have no foothold. And unfortunately for the Democrats, the Court of Appeals candidates are are losing right now, so Riggs would be the only winner. I think Riggs is up 22,000 votes at the moment,

Emilia Rivadeneira
last time I checked, Riggs was having the lead.

Mac McCorkle
Yeah, so that that's very tight, and that's again, probably Republicans will not exactly put it this way, but that's probably Mark Robinson's fault in their in their view, there was just enough static and abortion became such a prominent issue. I agree with Elizabeth that how much voters knew Allison Riggs and- and Griffin the opponent, I'm not sure the names, but it might have gotten through just a little bit that she was a defender of abortion rights, just enough so. But yeah, the Democrats are kind of fighting for their lives in the judicial sphere, and that a Riggs win would be some kind of consolation.

Emilia Rivadeneira
Yeah,

Elizabeth Lane
what is unique about the North Carolina Supreme Court just to add, is that they do run with a partisan label. Only eight states in the country do that, and that was as of 2019 right? So that is something new, and because they added it back in 2019 because so many voters didn't vote, um, because of that lack of partisan label. So

Emilia Rivadeneira
Yeah,

Mac McCorkle
With this Council of State and judicial races. I mean, there are arguments on both sides, but this is part of the North Carolina tradition of the long ballot, where judges run for election and all kinds of you know, cabinet members, where you know you're thinking analogy to the federal level, all are elected constitutional officers, and it does raise the question, not Republican or Democrat, not partisan, is how- how little the democratic is this? As again, as Elizabeth said, the lack of voter knowledge about the candidates. They're just voting D and R, you know, by the labels. So it's, this is a question that's been around in North Carolina politics for a long time, the so called Long ballot.

Emilia Rivadeneira
And again, kind of touching based on just like how we're seeing Riggs, kind of like, ahead of, barely ahead of, just like in the lead of the North Carolina Supreme Court race. Why can this unofficial result at like this point in time suggest about how North Carolina voters are feeling about the direction of the state's judiciary, like, where should it be moving forward?

Mac McCorkle
I don't- it's hard to read that the voters are kind of coherently commenting on the direction of the judiciary. Again, the three Court of Appeals Republicans are winning. Riggs is just barely ahead on the Democratic side. So again, the kind of verdicts in North Carolina, such split verdicts and unclear how they go. But again, if abortion was not a live issue, I think the Democrats would even have more of a problem on the Judiciary side of kind of what- why do people need to vote for a Democrat? Would be a question, but I don't- maybe Elizabeth sees it, but I don't see a single, singular message being sent about the courts, especially because if the Republicans, you know, they'll, they'll be in even stronger control of the Court of Appeals, and are in, will be in, still in control of the Supreme Court after this.

Elizabeth Lane
Yeah, I agree with Mac. I don't think that there is like a, this is like a strong showing or referendum, or anything on behalf of the voters that being said. I do think that this race should bring attention to the important issues that the North Carolina Supreme court is deciding is potentially deciding in the future, right? So we have things like, like education, right? So educational funding is something that they recently decided voting rights, not even dis- redistricting, which we know is a hot button issue in the state of North Carolina, but the disenfranchisement of hundreds or 10s of 1000s of voters in North Carolina that happened when the Supreme Court flipped from Democratic to Republican, most recently, right? So there are the court is deciding really important issues. And that's to say it may be too late to try to get people to pay attention now, but people should be paying attention to their state Supreme Court races, especially, especially if Republicans end up winning at the national level, right? So we've already seen a trend of giving things to the states to decide, right with abortion, and who's to say that that will not continue with other issues such as IBM, other privacy related issues, right? And so that even increases the importance of someone's State Supreme Court and affecting their day to day life.

Mac McCorkle
Yeah,

Emilia Rivadeneira
Yeah. And now talking a little bit more about how North Carolina also passed the citizens only voting amendment, I wanted to ask you both, what does that entail for us?

Elizabeth Lane
There's no change, right? You had to be a citizen to vote before you're going to have to be a citizen to vote. Now that that has passed, yeah,

Mac McCorkle
Right. I, you know, I'm not sure what Republican legislator decided on this- I it- I did some work at the polls, and people were very confused about it. I think to the extent, you know they paid attention to it, they probably teed them off some, because it seems so- when they heard that, as Elizabeth said, there really was no change, effective change in the law, that's kind of thing that that makes people say that's what I hate about politics. I think it brings up the issue, though, especially for the Democrats, is North Carolina is not a state that allows citizen initiated constitutional or statutory referenda, and so the only kind of constitutional referenda you get in North Carolina is one that passes through the legislature. And again, if the legislature is completely under Republican control, you're never going to get anything an amendment, democratic or progressive. Think about though, if there had been a citizens if you could have a citizens referendum, there could have been one on Medicaid expansion. Republicans finally caved on that, but there that would have passed easily, the protection of abortion rights would be way stronger in the citizens referendum. So there's a long history here. We don't need to get into it, but Democrats in this state are somewhat being crippled by not having that organizing tool and mechanism, and the only, only body or entity that can initiate constitutional statutory referendum are the Republicans in the legislature.

Elizabeth Lane
Yeah, and I would say that, and I am, I'll credit my colleagues Andy Taylor and Steve Green for this. They mentioned that typically, we see these referendums and maybe midterm years right when you want to drum up support for your base, like so like this would have made sense for Republicans to do in a non presidential year right to try to increase voter turnout. That's typically when we see these types of ballot initiatives. So it's, it was just kind of peculiar, and I haven't heard a lot of like explanation. And as I said, it doesn't change a whole lot.

Speaker 1
Yeah, um, and kind of going back to my first question, you know, AP called already, you know, the state, but I am also interested, you know, in 2020, kind of like comparing voting patterns and trends. North Carolina was the one that got away from Democrats. And I know that. You know, it's election night, and like, regardless of news outlets like AP calling the state, I wanted to ask, like, as we wait for more results, what could change in the coming hours? Or what can we see changing, not only for the top of the ticket, but also for state races and local races?

Mac McCorkle
Well, when we started, I haven't looked at this since we started, but the reason I think other places might be more reluctant to call it is that there's still some vote to come in the Democratic strongholds. I mean, in this state, the 10 counties there were, there 11 counties with kind of bigger cities or towns, include Chapel Hill and Carrboro as one, because, you know, kind of unite those getting near 100,000 or so. And inside those city limits, Democrats are have really strong. And you notice that tonight, Democrats won in in Greenville, Pitt County. They won in Buncombe, Asheville, Wake, Raleigh, Mecklenburg, Charlotte. And when I came here, there were still some some vote in some areas that. It might tighten, and people are probably concerned about that. But when I looked at the vote the 20 the 2020 vote, 24 vote was similar to the 2020 vote, it was that Trump did a little bit better in the northeastern counties, where there are where Democrats win because of the strong black vote, but didn't win as much, and he flipped Anson and he flipped Nash. Democrats won bigger and Wilson. So it was kind of a redo of 2020 maybe with just the factor that the Harris was part of the incumbent administration, and so lost a little- little bit more than than Biden. The main problem for the Democrats, though, is I've tried to write, is it's not just in the rural areas. Um, Democrats come out of the cities and those big city counties with good margins, very healthy margins, but they hit the walls of what I call the country politics counties, the counties that are technically metropolitan because they have commuters going into the city, and they've got signs of kind of big city life, but at the same time, there's a lot of rural, small town legacy. So lots of people, for instance, focused on Union County, right outside of Charlotte. Thought there's where there are Democrats really might make an inroads. Or Johnston here in Wa-, near Wake. And in both cases, Trump hit his numbers almost the same numbers as 2020. The only thing that's really breaking for the Democrats is Cabarrus, which is right outside Charlotte, but most of the others, he's even doing a little better, or doing about the same. So it's not just rural North Carolina, it's areas that are in the metropolitan North Carolina, where Trump is still winning, these are very white kind of exurb suburb type places, and then Trump did a little bit better, and in some of the cities, not dramatically. So. So,

Elizabeth Lane
Yeah, I'm seeing more of the same, I think some people are waiting to see, right? So like population has has changed in places like North Carolina since 2020 right? I think a lot of people are aware of the big influx, not in a not and that's not unique to North Carolina either, right? We're seeing that in a lot of other states. I just saw them talking about it in Nevada before I came in here, right? A lot of people are leaving California for the Vegas area because it's much more affordable. And so I think maybe that that was driving some of the hope as well, right? That maybe there's these people that are moving from maybe more northern metropolitan areas, right? And, you know, bringing those kind of voters down here. But it seems like that is not necessarily the case and as Mac said, it seems to be kind of a repeat. And that's what is when you look at these, like micro level county analyzes, right? That they tend to do to compare. You know, how is here? How are Harris and Trump performing to their predecessor and former self? Trump seems to have done better or the same in all of those places, and Harris just didn't make them any any grounds in most of those places.

Mac McCorkle
Yeah, yeah. There is migration in North Carolina. I think it is probably Net Advantage to the Democrats, depending on what exact period we're talking about. But it is only a net I mean, there you go to Brunswick County, which is one of the biggest growing counties in North Carolina, Saint James plantation, and lots of places New York, refugees from New York are conservative and Republican. And then the other problem for the Democrats is even though the well- we'll see what, how much of the percentage of the white vote, how less white the this electorate was, but it's been getting less white, but Democrats have been getting less and less of the white vote. So while it is in not as big of a share, Democrats are still leaking support. When I used to be a democratic consultant, you thought you gotta win. Democrats needed to win 40% and of the vote of the white vote, and now Democrats are really trying to win with third, you know, low 30s, and that's not proving to be successful at the federal level, right?

Speaker 1
And just because of sake's time now we'll hear from students at NC State University about. Their engagement with the elections. Thank you both so much for being here tonight with us at WKNC 88.1 and with the 24 hour live transmission with- in partnership with Student News Live and iHeart Radio. Thank you both.

Mac McCorkle
Thank you. Thank you. Elizabeth.

Elizabeth Lane
Thank you.

Emilia Rivadeneira
Bye. Have a good night.

Emilia Rivadeneira
Welcome back to our election night coverage with partnership of iHeart Radio and Student News Live. I'm Emilia Rivadeneira and I'm here today with Annabelle Rossi, Junior, studying political science, and President of the Students for Immigrant Rights and Equality at NC State, and Zania Sanders ,Junior, studying science, technology and society, and AYA ambassador at the African American Cultural Center at NC State. Thank you so much for being here today. How are you guys doing?

Annabelle Rossi
Frankly, feeling a little, you know, anxious about tonight, but hopefully all things go well, yeah.

Zania Sanders
Yeah same. I would say I feel a little anxious, like little anxiety, but overall, I'm just tired. Just came from dance practice, but, you know, making it work.

Emilia Rivadeneira
Yeah, yeah and, well, this program tonight, we're basically looking back on this election season, and I wanted to ask you guys, what were the main issues, and, like, the most important issues for you during the election season?

Zania Sanders
Okay, cool. I guess I'm taking the floor first guys. Well, I will like to say I am president of RISE University here on NC State campus. So the main things that we have been focused on, as an advocate, youth wave here at NC State University, Go Pack. We've been focused on like Project 25 definitely, because there's a lot of things that is going on with that. They're trying to take away education for K through 12, and they're trying to take financial aid grants and things like that. They're trying to take away Medicaid, any type of like government help that could basically help low income families or minority families.

Emilia Rivadeneira
Yeah.

Annabelle Rossi
For me more so, like you mentioned before, I'm president of Immigrant Rights and Equal students for Immigrant Rights and Equality. So definitely a big thing, as a daughter of an immigrant. Championed those immigrant rights recently, last semester, we attended a rally in DC against HB 10, a law that would allow or mandate NC State Sheriffs to cooperate with ICE, which is something that is deeply like impactful and hurtful on the immigrant community. So just making sure we have those leaders in place to permit those types of bills. I'm also a member of the Road Chapter of Latinos, Lambda Pi Chi Sorority Incorporated. And we also fight for those same like women's rights, immigrant equality, those types of issues more so affecting, like women of color. So those two things were very big facet.

Emilia Rivadeneira
Yeah, and do you think that the issues that you guys just mentioned right now, do they kind of reflect the overall issues that college students, specifically here in North Carolina, are just like, kind of, it's in the center of, like, the debate, specifically, like this election season,

Annabelle Rossi
I definitely think reproductive rights is a giant thing on the ballot this season, especially with those young women in university or the like, those who need access to those specific reproductive freedoms. Abortion is a very big thing on the ballot, and that matters to a lot of people here, and especially a lot of people our age, even those that aren't in university. I think that has been the pinnacle thought in a lot of young people's minds.

Emilia Rivadeneira
Yeah.

Annabelle Rossi
Yeah I definitely agree on that, even with, like I said, being with RISE, partnership with NPHC, as well as Alpha phi, Alpha, and then miss practice. Simpson, we've been definitely talking about how I'm sorry, y'all, I'm parched.

Emilia Rivadeneira
No, it's okay, so good.

Zania Sanders
But we definitely been talking about these major things that can definitely like impact a lot of minority races, ethnicities, of that factor, it can affect a lot of things, and I feel like that's a lot of things that make us anxious, especially when you talked about immigrants as well, because y'all are a minority as well, and them taking away all those resources, it feels like y'all we stepping back into the 1960s a little bit, you understand. So I'm just like a like, let's, let's, let's not do that. You know, we came this far from your ancestors, my ancestors, other people's ancestors and minority communities, that we come too far to let it go back. And why are we? Why are we making such an effort to want to move back when we came so far as America, as far as being back on our four founders? Yes, the United States in general has four founders, but we also have four founders that made a way for us, paved a way for us to have the things that we have today.

Emilia Rivadeneira
Yeah, and are you guys. Is first time voters this year, or-

Zania Sanders
Yes.

Annabelle Rossi
Yes.

Emilia Rivadeneira
Yes. And what I know that you have talked about, like, all the issues that kind of resonate with you guys personally, what? But is there in a specific kind of event, or just in general that motivated you to just like, you know, go to the ballots in this election and like, motivated you, on like, a personal level, to just like, show up and like, you know, make your voice heard through the ballot.

Zania Sanders
Honestly, I'm gonna say, because I feel like it just again, what we put on is basically what we say. You know what I mean, immigrants, minority communities. Hello. Like, what's not clicking, Steven, you know? So it's like, you know, with that going on, we just don't want to take a step back way, step back, like, going over a century. Like, we, we do not have time for that. And honestly, like, I don't know how I would react. You know what I mean, if he just goes to we really go opposite 10 times back from where we came from, and it's just gonna feel like, what was this all for? Like, what do we do all this for? Why do we change all of these bills and putting all these implications for change? We talk about revolution, we talk about evolution, and it's just like, what's the point? If you gonna just strip it all away from us, just so you can feel like you have a sense of control?

Annabelle Rossi
Yeah, and then building upon that, like you asked, like, what specifically inspired you to go to the ballot? Like, this season? I think it's very impactful. When you look at a certain candidate that stands up there and tears down these specific minority communities, targets someone who is your father, targets someone who is your neighbor, calling them on all sorts of like senseless names and just derogatory terms. When we go to the ballot or we go to cast our ballot, we're not just voting for us, we're voting for those who can't vote. I have many friends who are here on DACA status. They cannot vote, and they cannot have their voices heard in a country that they've grown to love and that they plan on staying in. They can't put their vote in for that future. So it's also going to represent those who can't represent themselves.

Annabelle Rossi
Yeah, building off that, I would definitely say also a program that RISE put on. I know I keep mentioning RISE, but listen, if you're not involved on this campus, come on. Come on. Talk about this. Okay, but we did a presentation, document slash movie night of talking about how there's veterans, there's people that have disabilities and things of that sort, or a part of certain communities where they're taking away their ballots. They're taking away their their cast their vote, because either they haven't voted in the past election or they just, you know, doing random selection of taking people's ballots out. And I feel like, you know, that's a issue in today's present day. So it's just like, I feel like me as the youth, knowing what's going on politically, knowing what to advocate for and why I'm voting. It's a step in front, regardless if it's my first time, my second time, my 10th time, is still putting in I want change, and I'm putting in the effort to put my time out of my day to make it happen. So with that also, you got to also ensure that the fact that, hey, I did this. So then when I talk to my kids, whatever, they know that their mom did this or whatever. And even when I seen today working with the voting people taking their kids so they could see this in action, I think that's a really good idea.

Emilia Rivadeneira
And kind of turning into, you know, like we are all part of Gen Z, and we have seen a lot of just like, political analysts talked about like Gen Z voter turnout, and just like youth turnout in general this election, and like, just like its impact on like the 2024 election. And I just wanted to ask you guys, do you think your vote matters?

Annabelle Rossi
I think most definitely, because it's not just like the physical ballot you cast in it's the influence you have over those around you. Like, if I go to my friends and I say, Hey, I'm gonna go vote, it's more- it's like you're putting that influence on them to go. It's your intention to go vote. Like I've been to a couple of RISE events myself. It's just the power in that room and the influence that seeps from these events, like any voter registration events, yeah, sometimes it'll get annoying if, like, the fifth person a day comes up and asks you if you register to vote, but it's just kind of that, I don't want to say, peer pressure, but just that, like nagging to take on that civic responsibility and that civic duty.

Emilia Rivadeneira
Yeah, yeah.

Annabelle Rossi
I definitely think it matters. Dollars, because it's not just like the physical value hold in your hand, but the mindset that you give upon others,

Zania Sanders
Yeah, um, kind of building off of that. I wouldn't say, like, it's a kind of peer pressure type thing, um, you were advocating um, or basically saying, um, I think it's really just, you can say that you are a part of a change when it comes to being a part of voter election, especially if, like me, it's my first time, I can say I was a part of that election to make a change. So regardless if it goes this way or that way, I can say I did something instead of just saying, oh, I want things to change, or I want X, Y, Z, or I want this person to represent us as a community, you know, instead of just saying, I'm putting it into action, I can say that I'm about that action, you know what I mean? So I feel like that's great thing to do. And being a change advocate, a youth changing advocate in my community, and say, you know, I was there at that time, and I also did something, instead of saying, Oh, I'm not gonna vote, because, you know what I mean, it's, you know, regardless they're gonna do what they're gonna do, true that. But even after the election, we still have a voice, you know what I mean. So even at the election, we're still putting verbal action into actual physical action. When we, you know, post on Instagram, reposting, putting things on social media, advocating our, you know, basically exercising our Second Amendment, you know what I mean. So regardless, put action to your verbal actions.

Emilia Rivadeneira
yeah, and kind of building up of that. And what do you guys have mentioned about, you know, like Your vote matters. Why do you think, just like youth participation in the election also matters in general, why do you think, like, just younger generations showing up to the polls, like it just makes an impact, and just like how the election and the landscape will look.

Annabelle Rossi
Yeah, so um like the older generations. They're very set in their ways, and just statistically, the policies that they favor and the policies that they care about are policies that are not exactly the best for the younger generation, and we're the ones that are most likely going to have to live with the ramifications of those actions for the long run, like, say, Supreme Court justices. That's a very good example. Like we're going to have to deal with the ramifications of a like, say, a conservative Supreme Court justice for the last like, three to four decades. I think the youth vote is also very influential, because we are kind of the generation that's kind of mastered the various forms of communication, whether that be verbal, social media, like that type of marketing stuff, and just being able to influence each other one on one and have those difficult conversations. Because I also think Gen Z has a greater way to commit- connect emotionally, like you can see how some of the older generations kind of tend to get away from the emotional side of politics, but that's really what politics is all about under the skin, is the emotions of it. But yeah,

Zania Sanders
That was some great, very good points, um, I would definitely also say, um, not just, you know, the fact that, you know, we are the younger generation, and we're building it for the people after us, and we're dealing with, you know, the ramifications of things. I would definitely also add on to that, that when it comes to that we are the younger generation that is becoming the older generation that's setting what's the generation that's happening after us? You know what I mean. So you got to think how we're in college right now and we're electing, we're setting forefront for the generation after us that's in K through 12 right now. You know what I mean. So it's like we're becoming the older generation. So we're setting a tone for the next generation that's coming after us to elect for the next election. So I feel like we're just setting tone, like you said, the older generation, they're not going to see the way we see when it comes to education, it comes to, like you said, political when it comes to parenting, things like that, we don't see the same things as you know our parents did back then. So like you said, it wasn't an emotional side to it. It is what it is, and that's it. And they are also very like rigid. So it's like the pieces never, you know, try to morph into each other. So I think with us voting, it does matter, because we're setting the tone for the next generation in order to make it safe and also innovative for them, we have a lot of creativity innovative every generation that comes. They're going to have different ways of thinking that can make the place and environment that we live in more better.

Emilia Rivadeneira
And you both are part of just student organizations on campus that have been active all throughout election season, kind of like either educating college students about election stuff, or just like, being active in general during the election season. And so I wanted to ask you guys, what role does these like student organizations on campus or just like, what role these groups kind of play in just election season stuff?

Zania Sanders
Okay, cool. Um, I would say definitely with RISE, I definitely feel like me as a president's role at RISE, here at State, definitely with that, I feel like like, I think two weekends ago we had vote fest, getting that avocation out there to show like, you know, you can still have fun and do activities and things of that, but also raising the awareness that, hey, we need to vote. We need to be that changed youth wave for our community. You know what I mean? Raising awareness while having fun and being a community while doing it. Another thing with AYA ambassador, we have a lot of what's on the table events. So we talk about political things in a safe environment where we respect each other's biases and opinions, opinions, sorry, so with a respectful manner to talk about it. And then also, we have the MLK March coming up next year to talk about that as well, and then we have time to talk and handle like how we're feeling at that moment. So yeah.

Annabelle Rossi
Yeah, for SIRE, we've been trying to do a lot of different events in collaboration with other bigger political advocacy orgs, because we're just on the smaller side. So leading up to the election, we did have a collaboration with NC issue dems, and we had, like, we made it somewhat cute, like we were like, Hey, come paint tote bags, and then also, come make your voting plan. Like, come learn more about the candidates in your area. Are you not registered? We'll get you registered, like that type of stuff, because it's always a trend with like younger- younger adults, younger people, especially like freshmen, like sophomores, those getting registered for the first time, you got to have something else to kind of reel them in, because sometimes voting is scary. Sometimes it's hard to navigate that by yourself. We also did a collaboration event with this local nonprofit here in Raleigh called La Fuerza. One of our alumni works there as an intern, so she was able to help us out a bit. Shout out to Kelly, she's great. We did a voter registration table in Tally, and then when people came up to the table, in order to like spin our little prize wheel. They had to tell us their voter plan if they were already registered. So where you're going to vote? When are you going to vote? Are you going with someone? And then they got to spin the wheel. So just kind of having that, like little one on one combo was super cute. Additionally, with Latinos from me and Lambda Pi Chi Sorority Incorporated, we held activism is more than your vote workshop, so while also advocating for people to go out and vote and getting people like registered or like offering rides the polls, we also made it known to them that your activism and your like vote kind of extends beyond Election Day. It goes beyond this night. It's how you continue to show up for your community in those different ways.

Zania Sanders
Yeah.

Annabelle Rossi
oh, sorry, I must say, definitely a vacation off that, like we do tabling events as well as RISE. Thank you for making me mention, yeah, tabling we also do collaborations. RISE University is not just at NC State, it's at Central. It's at other big universities. So we do, like, a lot of like, vote fest wasn't just here. It was also at Central. Was at other places. So we kind of work as a whole to just have ambassadors and field workers, field organizers all over we also partner with Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, as well as the other D9 chapters that help with NPHC. And then we also collaborate with the NAACP on campus. So shout out to them, and thank y'all NPHC, as well as the D9 chapter. And we also like collaborate with like other organizations, like BMI and other organizations that could be on campus. So, yeah, a lot of collaboration definitely is very innovative, and it helps us really get out there. And also, like networking to make a change. So as college students, as we can see, pulling it together. So you know what I mean?

Annabelle Rossi
Yeah, like, up to election night. I think, I think just this semester in particular, it's been really interesting how like different facets of the student community has kind of come together and advocated and worked towards, like a common goal, just for photo turnout, not even like making it like, like being what's the word? I'm getting for it, like, non partisan, yeah, non partisan. About it and about it, just majoring me, you know, just getting those voters and young people out, and it's made a lot of cross sectionality between these different orgs that you normally don't see coming together. And I think that's been really beautiful.

Zania Sanders
I think it's beautiful even on Instagram, that the fact that y'all seen, y'all I know, y'all seen, y'all know, say she's talking about some Hey, you can stand in line for a party. Why can't you go stand in line to vote? Oh, you can stand there all that time. Okay, all right, clock, the T for real. But I just love to see the application through, like, everybody's story, like, hey, go vote. Your vote matters, like even the fact that you're not even doing it for an organization, you still as a student in the community, you're making sure that your fellows still vote. But this is the most avocation I've ever seen for voting. I've never seen it this much ever.

Emilia Rivadeneira
And you mentioned, like, kind of collaboration between organizations on campus. Does this- have you seen this type same collaboration with like, again, like other campuses across North Carolina, maybe, or like, is it only here at NC State that you guys have seen, like, all of these collaboration, like, coming together from like, kind of the same goals that you know, like-

Annabelle Rossi
Are you asking like, in regards to like voting? Are you just in general, for change?

Emilia Rivadeneira
In, in regards to voting specifically, specifically for like, election season. But I guess, like, again, in general, advocation too.

Zania Sanders
Honestly, I could just say, just definitely for like, I know I keep mentioning this organization y'all, but listen, RISE is so big, like y'all understand, but yes, definitely with RISE, you just see different, like implications of collaboration when it comes to the election, seeing, like the different D9 chapters and Just avocation, just saying, hey, go vote. We have social media people that basically create and make Tiktok videos. They make Instagram reels. They talk about all these things, people like, Hey, your vote matters, or whatever, doing implications of that. So I feel like it's just been everywhere, as far as with RISE. But what would you say?

Annabelle Rossi
Definitely, my Greek organization, we have a lot of chapters within NC themselves, and I frankly haven't collaborated them with them a bunch until now, like we've launched a bunch of different marketing campaigns between the schools, between the chapters, chat with each other, like talked about voting and stuff like that. So it's definitely fostered, like a greater togetherness within my sorority with concerning sire students for immigrant rights and equality. We've more so be gotten more connected to our local Hispanic nonprofits in the triangle area, once from Duke and Charlotte and all that. But more so that.

Emilia Rivadeneira
Yah, cool and kind of touching more about local elections and just, you know, Raleigh and also, like the state North Carolina, I feel like a lot of people do see just like the top of the ticket, and kind of overlook just local and state elections a little bit. How do you guys feel about this? Like, do you think that just the youth voters are like, do sometimes overlook, like, local and state elections, or is it kind of like the same, just like,

Annabelle Rossi
I guess, yeah, I get what you're trying. Yeah, I hear you. I definitely think for those young people who are not like deeply delved in politics like that, aren't part of a political advocacy or aren't like a political science major like the bottom the lower you go in the ticket, the less appealing it seems. No one's going to think the Raleigh City Council at large is going to impact their decision but or impact their future. Sorry, but it will in some way. You do live in Raleigh, if you are registered to vote in Raleigh, these people will this will have some hand in deciding your day to day. It may not be super noticeable as like governor or president, but it's still important, because when you want to build your like, ideal government or ideal representation, it's best to work from the ground up. Local elections turn a state blue like or turn a state you know, it all begins from the ground up. I definitely do think that, like the typical college student does ignore the bottom of the ballot and just fills in whatever party affiliation that they identify with, which is not entirely like the wrong way to go, but it's always best to be more educated. It's always best to explore those candidates around you, because you never know.

Zania Sanders
Yeah, definitely. I agree with what you said. I feel like people really just look at the presidential election instead of just the local as well, because you got to realize your local decides everything that's going on around you, and it's like you got to think when it comes to your medical when it comes to your food insecurities and things of that matter. It definitely does matter if you get all that money, especially y'all want that money.

Emilia Rivadeneira
Okay, and turn it a little bit more with like, the issues that you mentioned at the beginning of the the program, how does that issues kind of, like, resonate with North Carolina politics and like, I'm asking this in a way of, like, you know what you mentioned, Annabelle, a lot of just like, the younger generations do not see like below, just like president, like, you know, the top of the ticket, um, and in your guys opinion, why do they need to, like, see all this and kind of, like, connecting it to, like, all of the issues that you mentioned in the beginning, like the issues that you were, um, like, immigration and all that.

Zania Sanders
I'm sorry I keep looking at you like that because you said a mouthful. Girl. I was like, hold up. Like, wait a minute. Let's break it down.

Emilia Rivadeneira
No, no, no, you're totally right. You're totally right. What I'm asking is just like, kind of why local elections matter, in the sense of, like, connecting it to the issues that you mentioned in the beginning of, like, of the program, because we see a lot in just national politics, like all the issues are, like, at the center of the debate, but when you see it on like, a local level, those issues are still there, yeah. So why do local election matters in that sense?

Annabelle Rossi
I'm gonna keep this short and sweet, when it comes to the local government on what the issues I talked about, when it comes to financial aid, and it comes to like, having medical insurance and all of these things, it does matter, because when it comes to the government here in Raleigh and things of that matter, they make those decisions, and it's just like y'all, who do y'all think y'all go to when it comes to you needing, you know, when it comes to, like, yes, financial aid is on a federal, you know, higher upcy, but in the same time, it's just like, still, you know, they still play a factor into making those decisions, yeah,

Annabelle Rossi
Recently, I took a tour with the- with the Department of Political Science International Studies, and we did visit, like, the NC State General Assembly, and we got to walk amongst all the ducks- desks of like, the representatives and the house, senators and stuff. There's a lot of Republicans in that general assembly. And I did not know, I did not realize that the balance was that uneven, yeah. And it really made me think, like, like, like, all these anti immigrant bills, because that's, frankly, what they are, all these anti reproductive rights bills. They come from this chamber because of this nasty divide, this nasty like imbalance. So definitely, like, when you pursue and you show interest in local elections, you are showing interest in those big national policies, because it starts small, yeah, but exactly what,

Emilia Rivadeneira
yeah, well, is there anything else that you guys would like to add, just like before we wrap up this program?

Zania Sanders
yeah, just, you know, everyone is feeling anxiety, feel uneasy and everything about the election, trust, we fill it with you, because I think about it all the time when it comes to, you know, being on campus and things, I'm like, yo, just start right on this campus. I'm already mentally preparing myself. You feel me. So I'm just like, Look, don't start acting crazy, or you feeling like you have the upper hand, and other things. I also will say, just be careful. This is like a very soft subject, subject, but like with the KKK and everything, when it comes to black women, please just be safe. Y'all out there that that needs to be handled heavily Seriously,

Annabelle Rossi
just exactly what they were saying about just anxiety. Do not let yourself get overwhelmed and just frankly, trust the process. Trust the American voting system. It's not perfect, it's not ideal, but it's what's going to get the job done for us and post election. If you feel like you didn't do enough in this campaign cycle, put in that more work. Explore your fellow advocacy boards on campus.

Zania Sanders
Be a changed youth advocate, please

Annabelle Rossi
Exactly, yeah,

Emilia Rivadeneira
well, thank you guys so much for being here tonight with me. I appreciate it a lot. And yes, thank you.

Annabelle Rossi
All right, you're welcome.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai