As he walked into the Reitz Union Career Connections Center, Cameron Driggers joined the ranks of over six million early voters in Florida.
The relatively short line he waited in to cast his vote was a product of advance voting, a process which allows Amerians across the country to vote before Election Day via absentee ballot or at an in-person early polling location.
In Alachua County, over 50% of registered voters have already cast their vote. According to the UF election lab, over 60 million citizens across America have voted as of Oct. 31. There are eight early voting locations across Alachua County. All are open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. from Oct. 21 to Nov. 3. For the 2024 election early voting numbers are already expected to surpass the 2020 cycle in which nine million people across Florida early voted.
Driggers said he was torn between who to choose for the top of the ticket this election cycle.
Despite being motivated to vote because of the Florida state amendments, the 19-year-old business administration sophomore said he was still unsure whether to vote for Democratic candidate Kamala Harris or Green Party candidate Jill Stein.
Driggers struggles to swallow how the Biden administration has handled the Israel-Gaza conflict, he said. While most people will be voting for either Trump or Harris, he said, the United States should not confine itself to a two-party system.
However, one thing Driggers said he knew for certain was that early voting was the best decision on how to cast his ballot this cycle. In-person early voting means voters have multiple days to choose from to exercise their opinion, instead of being confined solely to Election Day. That makes things more convenient, he said.
With a constantly busy schedule, Jasur Talipov, an 18-year-old UF political science freshman, said early voting was the option that best fit into his schedule. Waiting until Election Day to vote opens the door to scheduling conflicts and could lead to missing elections altogether, he said.
Choosing who to vote for is a very personal decision, said Talipov, a registered Republican. He emphasized that, especially in the student population, people need to be educated on who the candidates are on their ballot and what issues each representative stands for. While Talipov declined to comment on which presidential candidate he would be voting for, he emphasized the importance of the election.
“For me, it just came down to which candidate not only did I agree with more, but which one I would see as a better president,” he said.
Outside of in-person early voting, prospective voters also have the option to fill out an absentee or mail-in ballot and drop it off in a secure dropbox or at the Supervisor of Elections Office.
As a first-time voter, Gavin Schwanke, an 18-year-old UF legal history freshman, said he wanted to prioritize ease and efficiency in his voter plan. Schwanke said he chose to vote via a mail-in ballot to avoid Election Day crowds.
Schwanke said he felt honored to vote this election cycle. Major pressing issues for Schwanke this year are immigration restrictions and the fiscal policies of each candidate, he said. As a registered Republican, Schwanke said he would “clearly” be voting for Trump.
“I think it's a very crucial aspect of voting to allow students to have more opportunities to vote.”
Contact Morgan Vanderlaan at mvanderlaan@alligator.org. Follow her on X @morgvande.
Morgan Vanderlaan is a second year Political Science major and the Fall 2024 Politics Enterprise Reporter. When she's not on the clock she can be found writing, reciting, and watching theatre!
