On August 14, People Power for Florida (PPFF), an organization founded by Democratic Florida House Representative Anna V. Eskamani of District 42, hosted its fourth “Dorm Storm” campaign in front of Florida Atlantic University’s Heritage Park Towers while students were moving in.
This campaign is a yearly effort that aims to get students across multiple Florida university campuses registered to vote before Oct. 7, according to the PPFF’s Communications Director Allison Minnerly. She notes that 50 FAU students registered to vote or updated their address during the “Dorm Storm” event.
“The main objective is to help students update their voter registration to make sure that they are ready to vote at their campus address, but also to make sure these new students that might be new to the state of Florida, or that may have recently turned 18, are registered and ready to vote in the upcoming election,” Minnerly said.
According to the Florida Supervisors of Elections website, early voting for the primary election is currently running until Aug. 17, and the general election will be held on Nov. 5.
If you are looking to register to vote online, click this link.
According to the PPFF website, the organization was originally created to support Eskamani’s campaign but has since transformed to focus on helping anyone registering to vote.
“We’re not a partisan organization… It just so happens that the organizations that tend to do the most voter outreach among young people are going to be more left-leaning organizations,” said Eskamani. “A lot of students don’t feel connected to political parties, and I empathize with that. I’m not one of those people that tries to aggressively pitch the Democratic Party to anyone.”
At the event, PPFF collaborated with FAU student-registered organization College Democrats and Jay Shooster, the Democratic Nominee for Florida State House District 91. FAU’s Boca Raton campus and the surrounding area fall under the jurisdiction of District 91.
“There’s a lot of different folks here today, and we’re here today doing non-partisan voter registration, so we just want people to vote and have access to the polls,” said Shooster. “I hope they vote for Democrats, but we just want to empower people to make whatever decisions are best for them.”
According to data conducted by CIRCLE, Florida saw 54% of its eligible youth voters (ages 18-29) cast a ballot in the 2020 presidential election. This is a 10% increase from the 2016 presidential election.
In the state of Florida, an individual is only eligible to vote if they are a U.S. citizen, a resident of Florida, at least 18 years old by the time their ballot is cast, and have never been convicted of a felony or specifically ruled by a judge unable to vote.
Eskamani, who shifted PPFF from a personal political campaign effort to a non-partisan organization, strongly believes in the importance of young people’s participation in politics.
“Young people are the future, and if every young person voted, we would have a totally different governor right now,” said Eskamani. “I think a part of that is the number of college students I meet who say ‘my vote doesn’t matter. I can’t make a difference.’”
Eskamani further discussed how PPFF is one of the only groups aiding citizens in voter registration in Florida because of restrictions due to Senate Bill 7050, which has put specific requirements and stipulations on organizations registering people to vote. According to Eskamani, the state imposes heavy fines if you don’t follow the outlines of the state statute.
“It’s not a coincidence that the state passes laws to make it harder for young people to be able to express themselves and get civically involved because they see the trend,” Eskamani said. “The people in power today see younger voices running for office, getting involved in campaigns, communicating on social media, and that scares them.”
FAU College Democrats President Trevian Briskey was also on the scene of the campaign, helping students register to vote. He stated that it was important to him to help everybody register, specifically young people like himself who may feel like their vote doesn’t matter.
“This is the only opportunity to have a hand in the future that you are gonna be living in,” said Briskey. “Those people that are complaining and not taking action and wishing someone would stand up and represent them, this is your chance for representation.”
One of the 50 students who registered to vote or update their address was newly moved-in freshman Kasey Morisset, an exercise science major. Morisset shared that this will be the first election in which she is eligible to vote. Her reason for not registering earlier was because of trouble figuring out the best way to do so.
Morisset said the issue on the ballot she’s most passionate about is abortion rights.
“I’m personally pro-choice,” said Morisset. “I don’t really care what you want to do… I would like to live in a world where everyone is able to do whatever they want and not get hate for whatever they wanna do.”
Shaila Padilla, a freshman communications major, also registered to vote for the first time. She stated that she needed to research candidates and their policies before choosing who to vote for in November.
“It’s good to vote as an American,” Padilla said. “I want to make sure that my vote counts and that I can vote for someone that I want to be president.”
JD Delcastillo is the Managing Editor for the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email him at [email protected], DM on Instagram @jd.delcastillo or on X (Twitter) @jd_delcastillo.
