It’s a Sunday afternoon in September, and Ursula Wilkinson isn’t nursing a hangover at Waffle House or chatting with friends over brunch. Instead, Wilkinson and state Rep. Beth Bernstein are walking door to door and speaking with voters in the incumbent’s suburban Richland County district.
The third-year political science and international studies student pounds the pavement, often with Bernstein, every Sunday. Wilkinson is an intern on Bernstein’s re-election campaign, focusing on reaching out to voters in the moderate district, which encompasses parts of Forest Acres and Arcadia Lakes.
Other days, Wilkinson will be calling supporters for volunteer opportunities. Others, she’ll be helping write and distribute literature detailing Bernstein’s positions and accomplishment in her first term in the State House.
Wilkinson is one of a handful of USC students engaged in state-level and national campaigns. There are opportunities year-round for students to get involved with government and politics in the Palmetto State’s capital as pages or interns for legislators, parties or interest groups, but the election season presents an entirely new set of options.
Third-year political science and criminal justice student Mary Frances Martin, currently an intern for the Republican National Committee’s South Carolina operation, started out as an intern for Adjutant Gen. Robert Livingston’s primary campaign this summer. Livingston, an incumbent Republican, faced a primary challenger but no potential Democratic foe, so a primary win became the main event instead of the electoral hurdle it is for more contested races.
Martin rose quickly through Livingston’s ranks, becoming an assistant campaign manager and overseeing all Greenville County operations. Greenville County is a heavily Republican area, thus crucial in a Republican primary.
“It was the hardest work I’ve ever done in my life,” Martin says. “It ranged from getting coffee to worrying about each and every voting precinct in South Carolina.”
Like Martin, many political interns have a wide range of responsibilities. Some on large statewide or congressional campaigns may be tasked with calls to voters and runs to Starbucks or the office supply shop, while those on smaller campaigns may get the opportunity to write campaign material and train volunteers.
While Martin was able to take on a leadership position on Livingston’s campaign, that didn’t exempt her from hands-on work that many interns do on political campaigns.
“I stayed up all night the night before the primary for Gen. Livingston putting up signs all over Greenville County,” Martin says. “But it was worth it. We won by a 70/30 margin.”
Livingston is now running unopposed for Adjutant General, one of nine constitutional offices in South Carolina. Constitutional officers are members of the state’s executive branch and include the governor and superintendent of education. While the governor’s race is always a hot topic in South Carolina, the superintendent of education is less well known. Maggie Patton hopes to change that.
Patton is an intern for Molly Spearman, the Republican candidate for superintendent of education. Spearman came out on top in June, emerging from a pack of eight in a fiercely competitive primary election. Now working for the candidate, one of Patton’s main objectives is increasing name recognition among voters and raising awareness about the election itself.
“It’s a challenge because we are at the bottom of the ballot,” Patton, a second-year political science student, says. “A lot of people don’t even know you vote for superintendent of education. If you really think about it, do you know the superintendent of education from the state of California or New York? Or even your own state? That’s not something a lot of people really pay attention to. When people show up to the polls, we don’t want them to pick a random name.”
Despite the challenges that a smaller campaign presents, Patton saw the Spearman campaign as an opportunity to specialize in an area she was interested in: education policy.
“It was a campaign that appealed to me because it was something different,” Patton says. “A lot of kids are drawn to major campaigns like Sens. Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott … but this is different. Education is something I’m really passionate about, so I thought it would be great to choose something I’m passionate about.”
Patton has always been interested in politics, but never realized she could make a career out of it. She initially chose to study fashion merchandising at USC because of her interest in style and a potentially clearer path to a career. Patton joined College Republicans because of her political interest and quickly found that she could make a job out of her passion.
“I didn’t know what I could do with politics,” Patton says. “But the more I became involved with College Republicans, the more I liked it — talking politically and helping out with campaigns — so I switched my major and got more involved.”
Being involved in a campaign is different than a typical internship or entry-level job. There’s always work to be done, and every piece of the puzzle is crucial. For students involved, it’s all about balance, especially for Wilkinson, the Bernstein intern. She takes a full course load and works as a server in addition to working for Bernstein’s House campaign.
“As far as free time, I have none. But it’s worth it,” Wilkinson says. “Every day, I think ‘Why am I doing this?’ But it’s because we’re at that prime age where opportunity knocks and you can’t turn it down.”
Statistically, students like Wilkinson, Patton and Martin are not the norm. Young people turn out to vote in the lowest proportion compared to other age groups. About 45 percent voted in 2012, compared to more than 66 percent of people 30 and older. Wilkinson thinks the biggest problem is that many young people just don’t care.
“It’s apathy. I ask my friends and they say they don’t really care,” Wilkinson says.
“We’re at that age where we’ll be the next ones taking office. If we’re not working to move forward, we’ll just be stuck here complaining. They complain but don’t want to do anything about it.”
Young people are major stakeholders in the political process, Patton says, even if they don’t realize it. “It’s really important, being involved in politics, but you don’t have to work on a political campaign. The most important thing is to be informed and to vote,” Patton says. “When you vote, you’re voting for your future.”
