Many University of Alabama students cast a ballot in one of the presidential primary elections on Super Tuesday at the UA Recreation Center, even though Tuscaloosa County turnout this year was considerably lower than in the 2020 primaries.
UA student organizations like Vote Everywhere have spent the past year helping students learn about the voting process and how to register to vote.
Rolland Grady, the president of UA Vote Everywhere, said in a written statement that it’s important to vote in primaries to let politicians know where public attitudes are leading up to the election.
“While both party elections are not particularly contentious this year, it is important for people to continue to exercise their civic right and create healthy civic practices,” Grady said. “In a lot of districts as well, there are local measures and offices up for election, so there is more than just the presidential primary.”
The Associated Press called the Alabama Republican presidential primary race just 45 minutes after polls closed at 7 p.m., with former President Donald Trump as the clear winner. Trump carried over 83% of votes statewide, while runner-up Nikki Haley garnered just 13%.
President Joe Biden won by similar margins in the Democratic primary, winning over 89% of the vote.
John Magee, a junior majoring in microbiology, said the most important issues to him as a conservative voter are immigration and foreign policy. He said he intended to vote for Trump for these reasons and because he believed Haley doesn’t have the same control of the Republican Party as Trump.
“Haley is a nobody, let’s be honest,” Magee wrote in a text message.
By contrast, Riley McArdle, a sophomore political science major and the chairman of the UA College Republicans, said he believed Haley to be the best choice.
“Besides the fact that I align more with her on certain crucial issues, she has less baggage and consistently beat Biden by a large margin in polls,” McArdle wrote in a text message. “I think she was our best shot to win in November, but I plan on doing everything I can to help President Trump win, now that he’s our presumptive nominee.”
Navid Sadigh, a sophomore computer science major, also supported Haley.
“I voted for Haley because I don’t want Trump to become the nominee,” Sadigh said. “She’s the best chance of stopping Trump.”
Sadigh said that in a potential rematch of the 2020 election, he’d still vote for Trump over Biden, but that Haley is a stronger candidate than both.
Braden Vick, communications director for the UA College Democrats, said that the organization endorsed voting “uncommitted” in this year’s primaries due to factors such as Biden’s support for Israel’s military operations in Gaza and his recent positions on immigration policy.
The endorsement statement, posted on social media, called November “a binary choice between democracy and fascism” but said that Super Tuesday did not present such a binary choice.
AP election results showed that the runner-up in the Alabama Democratic primary was “uncommitted,” comprising 6% of votes.
