PHOTOS: Angie Nixon hosts 'March to the Polls' at UCF

(Photo by Paige Bright)

ORLANDO | University of Central Florida students gathered at Memory Mall on Oct. 28 in preparation for “March to the Polls” with U.S. Senate candidate Angie Nixon, Representative Anna V. Eskamani and U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost.

Students were given bright pink shirts and signs that read “Angie Nixon for U.S. Senate” and “Knights for Angie” to carry as they marched from Memory Mall at UCF to the early voting location on the college campus at the Barbara Ying Center.

“We have the opportunity to turn the Senate seat back to the hands of the people,” Nixon says during a speech given to participants. “In six days, we have the opportunity to make history.”

Nixon discussed some of her goals for winning the Senate seat during her speech, including healthcare for all, stronger regulations on AI, removal of Flock cameras, data centers, pollution, affordable housing and more. She urged attendees to not only vote, but to reach out to friends and family to head to the polls as well.

Halfway through the march, at UCF’s Reflecting Pond, Frost and Eskamani took charge in leading attendees the rest of the way to the polls. Eskamani led the crowd in chants such as “Knights for Angie,” “This is what democracy looks like,” and “We are UCF; The mighty, mighty UCF.”

Once reaching the voting site, attendees handed over their signs, as protesting is not allowed within 150 feet of any voting site, before going in to cast their ballots. Coordinators and volunteers handed out sheets with voting information, including the issues listed on the ballots.

“As a proud UCF graduate myself, I take a certain level of responsibility to my Knights to make sure that students have the information they need to be civically engaged and to vote,” Eskamani says. “A lot of students might not even know that [the voting site] is here, so our goal for today was to inspire students to want to come out to vote, to meet with policymakers that are working to earn their trust and earn their support.”

Eskamani shared the benefits of early voting, which include shorter waits and more time to act if any complications arise with a voter’s ballot. She shared that students also assume that they can vote on campus, which is not always the case for those who do not live on campus.

“Your voter location matters on where you live,” Eskamani says. “If you live off campus, you might not be able to vote on campus, and so early voting makes it super convenient for every student who’s here.”

Frost hoped to inspire more UCF students to vote during the march, as poll numbers have been lower in the area.

“The turnout hasn’t been great for early voting at UCF; We were looking at the numbers, and we said, let’s go,” Frost said. “We called up Angie and asked, ‘Hey, can you come out?’ She said yes. Anna came out, we have the Young Dems, and we said, ‘Let’s just march up with people to the polls and get the numbers up.”

About 60 people attended the march, several of whom had already voted. Others who hadn’t voted went inside to cast their ballots, while those who had voted early stood outside, talking with the representatives and creating social media content promoting early voting.

Watermark Out News attended the “March to the Polls”. View our photos below.

Photos by Paige Bright.