UF students are overcoming the tall order of voting with free Starbucks.
Students who vote for Spring Student Government elections at Norman Hall today can show proof of it at the Normal Hall’s new Starbucks location to receive a voucher for a free tall beverage from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Students can vote any time between 8:30 a.m to 8:30 p.m.
Norman Hall’s Starbucks was the advertised location for the promotion as shown on a flyer, located close to Sorority Row and not in a central area of campus.
SG combined promoting the importance of voting and the opening of the new Starbucks, Ben Lantinberg, the chief of staff for the Student Body president, wrote in an email. The events were also combined to be efficient and conserve student fees, he said.
“Student Government has planned for months to host a get out the vote event, and also planned to host programming publicizing the new Norman Hall Starbucks location that opened last week,” Lantinberg wrote in an email.
The Alligator also asked Lantinberg how much the event cost, where its funding came from and
whether or not the chosen location had to do with its proximity to Greek life activities, to which he did not address or respond to even when emailed two additional times.
Student Body President Michael Murphy oversaw the project, said James Tyger, the senior director of SG advising. The Alligator has emailed Murphy three times, texted twice and has called four times and didn’t receive a response.
The free coffee made Shelby Figueroa, a 20-year-old biochemistry junior, more likely to go out and vote. The Sigma Kappa member said she thinks those in Greek life were the main students taking advantage of the promotion and that she has good thoughts on the event.
“It encourages people to vote,” she said.
Poll worker Robert Pearson, 79, hands an “I Voted” sticker to Christi Allen, a 22-year-old journalism junior. Pearson, who has been a poll worker for the Student Government elections since 2003, said there were more than 100 students that came to Norman Hall Library to vote Feb. 18.
