Canfield Fair political tents trying to reach young voters
CANFIELD, Ohio - When walking around the Canfield Fair, you may notice a Mahoning County Democratic party and a Mahoning County Republican party tent.
While volunteers at these tents take different positions, they have a similar goal in mind, which is reaching out to younger voters.
Over the last six days, fair goers packed into the political tents, signing up to vote, buying merchandise and asking questions about this years election. Volunteers said the tents have been the busiest they've seen in years.
"There's days I open up the tent at 7:30. By 8:00 there is just people coming through all day and it's just nonstop all day until 10:00 and we even stay open later," said Michael Young, volunteer at the Mahoning County Republican Party tent.
Fair visitor Michael Walkowiec said he is visiting both tents to learn where each party stands on an issues he finds important.
"I'm 100% Ukrainian so I mean that's really important to me. What's going on over there, you know the help they are receiving from the United States," said Walkowiec.
Although the parties have different positions on many topics, voters leaving the tent had concerns on a lot of similar issues.
"A lot of it is within our education system, our abortion rights, women's rights, and it feels so important to understand what those are and the weights of those," said Faith Morlan, visitor at the Canfield Fair.
"I would say a big one is abortion, and the boarder to," said Landon Linhart, visitor at the Canfield Fair.
Volunteers from tents said they are trying to reach out to young voters to encourage them to go out to the polls this November. One candidate that visited the Republican party tent said she saw more young voters coming into the tent this year compared to previous years.
"We saw this year I think, more than any other year, young voters coming in to register for the first time. We do a huge shoutout and clapping to welcome them. We need to get more people involved," said Lynn Maro, candidate for Mahoning County Prosecutor.
With candidates coming in and out the tents, young voters are able to meet the people behind the name before they make the decision on which candidate they like.
"Why I should vote for this person, what are they going to do for me as an 18 year old," said Mariah Carter, visitor at the Canfield Fair.
