CofC looks to educate, engage voters during ‘Midterm Election Forum’
CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – The Midterm Election Forum was held at the College of Charleston’s School of Business building where professors covered a range of topics ahead of next Tuesday’s midterm elections.
The College of Charleston’s Department of Political Science is discussing the importance of this year’s election cycle.
“It’s a forum where you have four political scientists trying to sort of paint a bigger picture and talk about what’s at stake,” College of Charleston political science professor Gibbs Knotts said, “and what to expect in the next week or so.”
They say their goal with Wednesday’s conversation was to encourage more South Carolinians to vote in the midterms.
“About 50 percent of people typically vote in midterm elections in South Carolina,” Knotts said.
The four professors talked about the upcoming elections from a national standpoint, as well as here in the Palmetto State.
“The big one that everybody’s talking about is the governor’s race between Henry McMaster and Joe Cunningham,” Knotts said.
Knotts says the governor’s race has been intriguing to watch over the past five months.
“Cunningham is 40 years old,” Knotts said, “McMaster has been in politics for over 40 years. Cunningham wants to do some different stuff; he’s talked about legalizing marijuana, getting rid of the state income tax, legalizing sports betting.”
The educators say this midterm election could decide a number of crucial issues across the state, which is why they opened the conversation to the public.
“We see our job as educators as something that extends outside the classroom,” College of Charleston associate political science professor Jordan Ragusa said, “and so we like to talk to citizens as well as our students and kind of share some of our knowledge about this subject matter.”
The professors say above all else, they would like to see everyone carrying out their civic duty to vote over the next six days.
“I hope that they go out and vote,” Ragusa said. “Voting is very important in this country. Some of these races locally could be very competitive and so, if anything else, we hope that they make their voices heard.”
Early voting for the midterm elections ends Saturday, November 5th, and Election Day is Tuesday, November 8th.
