On election night, the nation will be be focused on the seven swing states that will determine the next president.
Here in Massachusetts, college students from those purple states are making sure their voices are heard by sending in absentee ballots or voting early, and encouraging others to cast their vote.
Rachel Hogan, a Northeastern student from Collegeville, Pennsylvania, is voting for president for the first time. She said she’s already mailed in her absentee ballot to her home state.
“It’s been a really unique experience to live in a blue state like Massachusetts where there are several people that I’ve met that maybe aren’t going to vote because they’re from a consistently blue state, whereas I have had the opportunity to influence the election with my vote,” Hogan told GBH News.
“I know a lot of my classmates maybe don’t experience that same feeling, and I definitely wish more of them could experience it,” she added.
College students have the option of registering to vote in their hometown, or their college town, depending on residency requirements. Students attending school out of state can still vote in their home state by requesting a mail-in ballot, or returning home to vote in person on election day, or via early voting.
Liz Benecchi, a senior at Harvard College, is from Marietta, Georgia. She recently flew home for the weekend to vote early and knock on doors for the Democratic nominee Kamala Harris.
“I know we live in Massachusetts, we live in, like, this little Democratic bubble. But it’s really important to keep doing the good work and to keep up the good fight and to do as much as you can,” said Benecchi, the vice president of Harvard for Harris.
Benecchi organized multiple trips for Massachusetts college students to travel to swing states for canvassing and voter outreach. On her recent trip to Georgia, she brought 10 classmates with her.
“Every vote — even though people don’t think it matters — every vote literally matters because it can come down to just a couple of thousand like it did last time,” Benecchi told GBH News.
President Joe Biden won Georgia in 2020 by just under 12,000 votes.
Mallory Rogers, from Rome, Georgia, is a senior at Harvard College. It’s her first time voting for president.
“It kind of feels like a really big deal. I was calling my home friends about it. We were all like — this is crazy. Like we’re voting in Georgia, and we’re voting for the president. Like, this is really cool,” said Rogers, who voted via mail-in absentee ballot.
Rogers said, when she was living in Georgia full time, she was a poll worker.
“I have serious FOMO for this next election because I think the energy and the polls in Georgia are going to be like, really, really good on Election Day and I’m not going to be there,” she said.
The swing state voters noted a sharp contrast in the political environment between their hometowns and Massachusetts.
For Hogan, talking politics back home is kind of taboo because there are so many mixed opinions in one community.
“In Massachusetts, it’s almost like you can assume where someone’s political affiliation may be, which is not the case at all in Pennsylvania,” she said.
She and others noted the lack of candidate visits, rallies and political ads in Massachusetts compared to their home state.
Caroline Spahr, a Tufts student from Danville, Pennsylvania, said her family recently told her that it’s been difficult to even drive to the grocery store lately because of the extra traffic visits from candidates create.
For some, like Kalvin Frank of Battle Creek, Michigan, there’s a sense of pride that their state gets lot of attention.
Frank, a first-time voter and student at Harvard College, said, “I think the fact that both candidates, whether it’s genuine care or electoral care, they do care about my state. So it’s been nice to see attention on it.”
