Brown and White Vol. 135 no. 18

              The Brown and White Vol. 135 No. 18
Friday, November 9, 2018 ‘All the Lehigh News First’
NextGen’s Neglect
Some students experience voter registration issues
By JORDAN WOLMAN
Deputy News Editor
For some Lehigh students looking
to vote in the midterm elections, sev-eral
for the first time, the experience
ended in tears and frustration — and
not due to the election’s results.
NextGen America, an organization
“dedicated to registering and turning
out young voters at an unprecedent-ed
rate in eleven states,” has been
active at Lehigh in recent months. It
has tabled on campus, encouraging
students to either register to vote
through the organization for the first
time or to switch their registrations
from their home addresses in order to
cast ballots in Bethlehem.
But some students who regis-tered
through NextGen America
were never officially registered in
Northampton County and therefore,
were ineligible to vote.
Michelle Rodriguez, ‘21, is one of
these students.
Rodriguez said she registered
with the organization on campus in
late September. When she was con-fused
about her registration status
and her voting location, she contact-ed
Northampton County. A repre-sentative
from the county said her
records could not be found, and after
a back-and-forth with NextGen, who
Rodriguez said stopped responding
to her emails, no record of her voter
registration form was ever located at
Lucy Zhou/B&W Staff
NextGen America has faced recent backlash over improperly submitting voter registration forms in preparation for the midterm
elections. The midterm elections were held on Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018.
the Northampton offices.
“I cried three times in two days,”
Rodriguez said. “All I wanted to do
was vote. I would get mad at other
people for not voting, and now I
can’t.”
Rodriguez said she still went to the
polls to fill out a provisional ballot.
While there, she said a poll worker
who couldn’t find her name asked if
she registered with NextGen. The
poll worker said he was aware of
an issue with students registering
through the organization and not
being able to vote on Election Day.
Rodriguez will not know if her pro-visional
ballot was counted for anoth-er
five to seven days.
Liam Magargal, ‘22, experienced a
similar problem.
Magargal said he and his friends
were in Farrington Square one day in
September when he decided to switch
his voter registration from his home
state of Delaware to Pennsylvania
through a NextGen representative.
By Election Day, only two of his
four friends who filled out their regis-tration
information through NextGen
were able to vote. Magargal was not
one of them.
Magargal said he checked his reg-istration
status online two weeks
ago and his name never showed up.
That’s when Magargal realized he
never received his voter registration
card.
See NEXTGEN Page 3
Northampton County paints the midterm blue
See BLUE Page 2
Courtesy of Chloe Hoffnagle
From left, Malini Ray, ‘20, El Zimpel, ‘20, Stephanie Huynh, ‘20, Nia Nesfield, ‘20,
Pennsylvania congressional candidate Susan Wild, Katie Shinopoulos, ‘20, and
Chloe Hoffnagle, ‘20, all pose on Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018, at Coca Cola Park in
Allentown, PA. Wild won Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District seat.
ing to the county’s Summary Report.
U.S. Congress
Susan Wild (D) earned 51.92
percent of Northampton County
votes and took Pennsylvania’s 7th
By MARISSA MCCLOY
News Editor
Northampton County saw a total
of 38,479 voters on Nov. 6, with an
Election Day turnout of 34,484 and
an absentee turnout of 3,995, accord-
Congressional District seat. Her
opponent, Marty Nothstein (R),
earned 45.10 percent of Northampton
County votes. Out of the entire dis-trict,
Wild earned 54.6 percent of
the vote, according to The Associated
Press.
Bob Casey (D) earned 54.45 per-cent
of Northampton votes for his
position as a US Senator. Republican
candidate Lou Barletta earned 43.84
percent of Northampton votes. Out
of all Pennsylvania voters, Casey
received 55.7 percent of the total
votes, according to The Associated
Press. Casey, who was first elected
to the Senate in 2006, will not serve
his third term.
Incumbent Democratic Gov.
Tom Wolf and Lt. Gov. John
Fetterman received 57.09 percent of
Northampton County votes for the
office. Republican opponents Scott
Wagner (Gov.) and Jeff Bartos (Lt.
Gov.) received 41.24 percent of the
Northampton vote.
How did Northampton County
vote in General Assembly races?
• Lisa Boscola (D), Senator in
the General Assembly 18th
District
• Mario M. Scavello (R), Senator
in the General Assembly 40th
District
• Andy Lee (D), Representative
in the General Assembly 131st
• Steve Samuelson (D),
Representative in the General
Assembly 135th
• Robert Freeman (D),
Representative in the General
Assembly 136th
• Joe Emrick (R), Representative
in the General Assembly 137th
• Marcia Hahn (R),
Representative in the General
Assembly 138th
• Zach Mako (R), Representative
in the General Assembly
183rd
National results offered mixed
results for both parties, according to
The Guardian.
Democrats gained control of the
House of Representatives, success-fully
flipping 27 seats — four more