The Election is Over, Now What?

Text Story:

The University of Tennessee College Democrats stood on Pedestrian Walkway in the heart of the Knoxville campus for almost six hours on election day encouraging fellow Volunteers to make their voice heard in this year’s tight race to the White House.

This year the UTK College Democrats have been focused on the election, not just nationally, but locally as well. The group worked heavily on campaigning for state representative, Gloria Johnson. “We have been making a lot of phone calls, knocking on a lot of doors, talking to voters for those campaigns” said Feroza Freeland, the president of the organization.

The group also encouraged students at the beginning of the semester to register to vote, gave information on changing addresses for voter registration and for requesting absentee ballots. If students were registered to vote in Knox county, they could vote early at the Howard Baker Center right on campus or on election day if that was their designated precinct.

Freeland claims that the 2016 election brought one of the biggest crowds to the College Democrats’ interest meeting earlier this fall. Although the election day 2016 resulted in a Republican President-Elect, she said “we know that our work does not end after election day is over.”

Next semester, the group plans to focus more on issue-based advocacy at a state and national level. Women’s rights, reproductive health rights, environmental and educational issues are at the top of the UTK College Democrats’ list for the upcoming semester.

Freeland states that their focus will be on these issues, “… as the state legislature starts back up and different bills start coming up, we’ll take some trips to Nashville, we’ll bring some different speakers to talk to us...” in hopes of still raising awareness for their platforms.

Now that the election is over, Freeland believes that participation and membership might decline, however she is hoping to continue the momentum her group has had throughout the election.

To keep up with the UTK College Democrats and their advocacy this spring, you can visit their Facebook Page.

President Feroza Freeland and UTK College Democrats' Members on Election Day.

Web Summary:

The 2016 Presidential Election brought about a high membership and participation level for the University of Tennessee-Knoxville College Democrats. However, now that the election is over, the President of the organization, Feroza Freeland, says that the election does bring the end of the road for their advocacy. She says that their advocacy this spring will be focused more on issues, especially with the Tennessee State Legislature starting back up in January.