Quality of life, community front of mind for new Arkansas voters

Students of Dr. Ann White-Taylor (second from left) in the multimedia communication program at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff pose with LRPR News Director Daniel Breen and All Things Considered Host Maggie Ryan.

DB: Farther south in Fayetteville, Donald Culverson was hosting a tailgate along with his fraternity at the Razorback’s first home game of the season. He’s a Little Rock native, but says he wants to stay where he is.

“Honestly, I like being up here more than I like being in Little Rock. Just because Little Rock, I feel, is more divided than Fayetteville is.”

DB: He says he wants to try to stay in Fayetteville for grad school, but he’d still like to see his hometown take a page from the Northwest Arkansas playbook.

“Just more emphasis on bringing the community together… bringing people from low-income areas, making connections with people from high-income areas, the middle class, so that everybody’s aware of what everybody else deals with on a daily basis, and just be more compassionate individuals at the end of the day.”

MR: I think it’s fair to say we all want a little less divisiveness these days. Did you hear that a lot?

DB: Absolutely, and it could be on account of the elections—a pretty divisive time in general—but I think it definitely did reflect the overall sentiment of this new generation of voters. A lot of them simply don’t care about partisan ideology or rhetoric, they don’t really care whose side is winning. They want things to be better, both in their communities and in others.

DB: But, a lot of young people we talked to said that’s not possible unless more of their generation gets involved in the democratic process. Marleigh Hayes at Hendrix College says voting is a privilege that not everyone has, but she’s been encouraged by the turnout she’s seen at voter registration drives on campus.

“It is honestly difficult to mobilize young adults in Arkansas to register to vote because we assume we’re a red state, and so I want to kind of help people challenge that and help us realize that, as long as our voices are heard, it is meaningful.”

DB: Abigail Wells at the University of Central Arkansas says she started becoming involved after her state representative won re-election by just ten votes.

“Whenever people do gain that awareness, they’re more likely to register to vote. Whenever we were registering people, they’re like ‘Oh, well the presidential [election], I don’t see how it makes that big of an impact.’ And I said, look, from my experience, it was this many votes that actually made a difference.

“I really see people more engaged and interested knowing that a little thing can make a big impact.”

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Publish date : 2024-11-01 02:15:00

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