Editor’s note: (D) denotes a Democratic candidate. 

The Young Democrats took to campus Monday to petition for abortion rights and encourage students to register to vote, with the help of Arkansas politicians.

Politicians in attendance were the 2022 gubernatorial candidate Chris Jones (D), candidate for state representative Daniel Parker (D), candidate for Arkansas House of Representatives David McAvoy (D), U.S. Congressional candidate Rodney Govens (D) and candidate for justice of the peace District 7 Chenoa Summers (D).

“I’m not sure there’s a more critical piece of work to do than the campaign to win with younger voters,” Jones said. “They’re going to be the ones that live with the decisions that are made today. They need to be at the table helping to make those decisions.”

The club decided to host the event because Super Tuesday, the day where people vote in primary elections, was coming up. Young Democrats president Chris Smith, a junior history and communication studies double major from Cabot, Arkansas, said the club wanted to encourage students to register and vote in the primary. 

The event resulted in 16 students registering to vote and 20 signatures gathered on the petition. 

The club collected signatures for a petition going around the state to increase abortion access. The petition calls for an amendment Arkansas’s current abortion law to allow abortion in the case of rape, incest and to protect the health of the pregnant person in first 18 weeks of pregnancy. 

Currently, Arkansas’s abortion law only allows the procedure to save the pregnant person’s life in case of a medical emergency.

“It’s so clear that Craighead County aspires to be politically active,” said Micah Wallace, a political consultant who helped at the event. “The response and reception I’m getting when I’m asking people to sign this, from Democrats, from Republicans, from independents, from people that have never voted before, all of them are excited to get this on the ballot so that we can protect women in Arkansas.”

Emily Willett, a first-year business administration major from Jonesboro, said they signed the petition because they were disappointed with how Arkansas has handled its abortion laws. Willett also registered to vote at the event. 

“I’ve been kind of struggling on how I’m going to register because I don’t have a car and I’m not good on websites,” Willet said. “I really wanted to find somewhere to sign up and without a car, it’s kind of hard to get anywhere. This was a really good opportunity for me.”

Both the candidates and the Young Democrats stressed the importance of being registered to vote and to research local candidates. 

“It’s extremely important to make sure that your voices are heard, to get out and vote to understand the issues and understand that there’s more than just a presidential race,” Parker said. “That often kind of gets brushed under the rug when there are state and local elections that influence people’s lives a lot.”

Jerry Don Burton, news editor, contributed to this report.

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