Salisbury University's voter panel. From left: Dr. Mary DiBartolo, Jared Schablein, Patrick Kerr, Dr. Joe Venosa and moderator Dr. Jennifer Cox. Image courtesy of David Bohenick.
Salisbury University hosted a panel consisting of two liberal voters and two conservative voters the night before Election Day. The event encouraged students to vote in the 2024 presidential election, regardless of political affiliation.
Moderated by Dr. Jennifer Cox, a professor in the school’s communication department, the panel started at 7 p.m. and lasted about 90 minutes. All four panelists are involved in local level politics and they stressed the importance of voting when it comes to local issues.
Jared Shablein, a member of a nonpartisan civic organization called Shore Progress, even offered a free transportation service to the students in attendance.
“We’re doing a free ride to the polls service,” Shablein said. “[We] don’t care if you’re Democrat, Republican, voting for Trump, Kamala or writing in Mickey Mouse.”
“We are giving everyone who needs a ride to the polls to their polling place…. We want Wicomico County to have the highest voter turnout of the state.”
The panel was balanced and respectful, a pleasant contrast from one of the most divisive elections in American history.
Patrick Kerr, an SU alumni and former president of the SU College Republicans, wants students to openly talk about their beliefs without backlash. He hates the idea that most students are driven to vote out of fear.
“Whether you’re a Republican, Democrat, Independent… I think we can all agree that the one thing this nation can’t survive on, and what a healthy democracy can’t survive on, is the idea that every election should be driven by fear and that every election is the death of democracy waiting at the doorstep,” Kerr said.
“We need to walk away from that and work together as an entire country. We’re all Americans at the end of the day.”
But the panelists have still dealt with negative responses while campaigning.
Panelist Dr. Joe Venosa, a history professor at SU and the chairman of a Wicomico County initiative called Yes to Question A, was recently the subject of a cease-and-desist order. Venosa’s information was also publicly posted, prompting some citizens to send him death threats.
“Our organization… has been targeted by [the Eastern Shore Undercover Facebook page] because that particular page owner is a campaign contributor to the County Executive,” he explained. “What he did though the other day is he published the cease-and-desist order that we got and he [left] my home address on it, so I got three death threats in the last two and a half days and that’s purely from social media.”
“That’s stuff that you just can’t avoid to some extent but it shows… the dangers of [social media]. I don’t care about your politics or your issue but if you put out those things in an unregulated way, you are going to run the risk of certain things.”
“We talked about freedom of speech, which is obviously true, but there’s also responsibility for that freedom. You don’t have freedom without responsibility.”
Regardless, the backlash hasn’t stopped the panelists from vocalizing their beliefs.
Wicomico County residents can vote at the Westside Fire Department along Nanticoke Road, at Pinehurst Elementary School or at the Asbury United Methodist Church across from Dogwood Village. The polls will be open from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m. tonight.
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By DAVID BOHENICK
Editor-in-Chief
Featured image courtesy of David Bohenick