Primary Season Engages Students

Presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump won the New Hampshire primaries on Tuesday.With the state’s primary election in mind, a large portion of PEA’s student body has made an effort to get involved and be informed politically over the past week.About 45 Exonians left their dorms at 5 a.m. this past Tuesday to encourage Exeter residents to vote by canvassing for their preferred candidate. Organized by the Democratic Club, the event attracted many students interested in politics. Other recent events over the past few months included rallies at the Exeter Town Hall for a variety of candidates, and a mock election hosted by the Exeter Political Union. The Exeter Political Union also brought Lawrence Lessig and several political science professors from the University of New Hampshire to speak.

“Living in Exeter during this election cycle has really opened doors for me.”

Many eligible Exeter students voted in Tuesday’s primary elections. To be eligible to vote in the New Hampshire primary, students must be eighteen years old on the day of the election. By attending the Academy, all students are considered New Hampshire residents and were therefore able to cast their vote if they were old enough.Senior DeGuerrera was eligible, and said that voting in the primary was very meaningful to her because she has had the opportunity to hear many of the candidates speak in person. “I had been looking forward to voting in the primary election for months, [and] casting my vote was one of the most exciting moments I’ve had this year,” she said.“I felt that I was really able to understand their platforms and see who they really are without the biased lens of the media,” she added.Postgraduate Dan Ozizmir also voted in the primary but noted that the political activity on campus did not sway his opinions. “I wasn’t influenced by anything on campus,” he said. “I knew who I wanted to vote for.”Students who were too young to vote were also able to participate through the Exeter Political Union’s mock election. The voting took place concurrently with the Discipline Committee elections, and students were encouraged to fill out ballots for both causes.The results of the mock election mirrored those of the real primary, with Trump and Sanders leading the Republican and Democratic parties, respectively. On the Republican ballot, Marco Rubio and John Kasich were also frontrunners, the rest of the pack falling significantly behind them.As for the Democrats, Sanders beat Hillary Clinton by a large margin of 223 votes to a mere 77. Lower Jo de La Bruyère voted in the mock election and appreciated the opportunity to see students’ views quantified. “It’s a great way to see the overall political view on campus,” she said.Co-head of the Exeter Political Union and senior Sean Taylor said that one of the ways students have been most involved has been attending rallies at Town Hall to see the candidates speak and ask them questions personally.“I’m really pleased with how politically involved and motivated Exonians are. I’ve seen students... who get out of class and wait for hours in line to see presidential candidates speaking at the town hall,” he said.Upper Bonnie LaBonte said that the Democratic Club also makes an effort to take advantage of all that New Hampshire has to offer during the primaries. “There’s so much more to politics than just the federal elections, and New Hampshire is an awesome place to be because both parties are so active,” she said.DeGuerrera also appreciated being in New Hampshire during the primaries. “Living in Exeter during this election cycle has really opened doors for me. I never expected to be able to walk right into town and meet presidential candidates face-to-face,” she said. “Meeting these candidates in person has definitely helped inform my opinion of them, especially with more controversial candidates such as Trump and Cruz.”The members of Democratic Club felt that their early morning campaigning was an overwhelming success. Lower Tim Han said that while there was certainly a learning curve to it, his group soon fell into a rhythm and had a great time. “It was exciting to see all the people starting to wake up around 6:30 a.m. and we even talked to a few on their way to vote,” he said. He commended Exeter residents for their excitement about voting and speaking with the students early in the morning.“I think it’s great that people are so involved in the political process, and I definitely believe we made a positive difference,” he said. Han said that whether Dem Club inspired just one person to vote or many, the event was a success. “I think the biggest impact we had was reminding people to vote and where they can vote,” LaBonte.She said that later in the morning, Bill Clinton arrived at the Exeter poll and many students had the opportunity to shake his hand. Overall, the campus was unsurprised by the results of both the primary election and the mock election. “I wasn’t too surprised because of how poorly Rubio did in his last debate. Trump winning wasn’t a surprise and neither was Sanders,” said Ozizmir.DeGuerrera agreed and added that she was pleased by Kasich’s strong second place finish in the primary. “[Trump and Sanders have] been projected to win the New Hampshire primary for weeks now,” she said.“As for John Kasich, I am very happy to see that he came in with a second place finish, and I hope that that will give him some momentum going into the South Carolina and Nevada caucuses that are coming up next.”Exeter students have been very involved in politics as of late and appreciate the opportunities presented by living in the state of New Hampshire, especially during a particularly interesting race and election.