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Rep. Elissa Slotkin greets East Lansing voters

November 3, 2020
US Representative Elissa Slotkin speaks with volunteers at the Hannah Community Center in East Lansing, MI to talk to voters on Nov. 3, 2020. This was the tenth polling location she visited today.
US Representative Elissa Slotkin speaks with volunteers at the Hannah Community Center in East Lansing, MI to talk to voters on Nov. 3, 2020. This was the tenth polling location she visited today. —
Photo by Annie Barker | The State News

Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Lansing, visited the Hannah Community Center to greet voters and supporters on Election Day.

Tuesday’s visit marked one of the congresswoman’s final stops of her four-day Get-Out-the-Vote initiative, in which she visited areas such as Lansing, Brighton and the coffee shops of downtown East Lansing to encourage residents to vote. 

On the ballot, Slotkin is facing off against Republican challenger Paul Junge, with whom she debated three separate times before the election. 

Social relations and policy sophomore Izzy Dickinson, one of two Michigan State campus organizers for the Slotkin campaign, distributed literature at the Hannah Community Center in support of the congresswoman on Election Day. 

“I’m out here because I support Elissa and the work that she’s done for students and for the people at Michigan State,” Dickinson said.

Dickinson said Slotkin’s work in affirming Title IX rights for college students and sexual abuse survivors in addition to her work on one of the biggest labor reform bills to protect workers are some of the reasons why she supports the congresswoman.

Dickinson said she is “optimistic” about the voter turnout she witnessed.

“We’re excited to be out here supporting a badass woman in politics who's representing us and making sure our voices are heard at the national level,” Dickinson said.

Slotkin, who has one of the largest field campaigns in the midwest, said 175 volunteers were outside polling places today to encourage people to vote.

With most of her constituency being MSU students residing in and around campus, Slotkin’s reelection campaign had to readjust to East Lansing in the era of coronavirus, with significantly fewer students to reach. 

Slotkin expressed gratitude for the student volunteers who were dedicated to getting the few students in town to go vote. 

“It’s an amazing thing to have people willing to donate their time and their energy and to put themselves out there as volunteers,” Slotkin said. “It’s giving me a really warm feeling to go from precinct to precinct and see our volunteers, hear their stories.”

Another Slotkin supporter, international relations senior Alan Shulman, also stood outside the Hannah Community Center today to encourage voters to reelect the congresswoman. 

“I adore the congresswoman,” Shulman said. “She’s just absolutely incredible, and I registered to vote here because I want her to be reelected. … I’m here because I’m passionate, and because I want her to win.”

Shulman, who founded the Spartans for Biden, has hosted Rep. Slotkin at various events since the organization was founded this spring.

“She garners respect from people across differences, across backgrounds, across ideologies because of who she is, because of her experience, because of what she’s done,” Shulman said. “All of the work she’s done to keep our country safe in a bipartisan and nonpartisan way.”

Shulman said the congresswoman makes her constituents feel heard and respected when speaking with them, which is another reason why she is so respected.

“We need more people like her in Congress, not less,” Shulman said.

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