Iowa football emphasizes importance of voting and being part of the process
By Pat Harty
IOWA CITY, Iowa – The Iowa football team had just finished practice Tuesday morning when defensive line coach Kelvin Bell encouraged his players to exercise their individual freedom by being part of the process.
He probably didn’t say it in those exact words, but the message was clear.
“That was like the last thing he said, he said make sure you go vote, so this year I’m going to fulfill my responsibility and go vote today,” said Iowa senior defensive tackle Noah Shannon.
The mid-term elections were held on Tuesday as voters from across the United States take part in what is at the very heart of our democracy – the right to vote.
The Iowa football players are in an age group that doesn’t always vote in large numbers, but the players and coaches made an effort to emphasis the importance of voting as the mid-term elections drew near.
For Shannon, it goes beyond just supporting a political narrative or a philosophy.
He feels an obligation and a responsibility to vote because of all the pain and suffering that his ancestors had to endure to get the right to vote.
“For me personally, being of color, I know that’s something that we really fought for, so I just want to uphold my responsibility, just pay my respects to my past generations who really fought for that and wanted our voices to all be heard,” Shannon said.
The 15th Amendment, which sought to protect the voting rights of black men after the Civil War, was adopted into the U.S. Constitution in 1870.
However, despite the amendment, within a few years numerous discriminatory practices were used to prevent Black citizens from exercising their right to vote, especially in the South.
It wasn’t until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that legal barriers were outlawed at the state and local levels if they denied any Americans their right to vote under the 15th Amendment.
“It’s definitely important to me because every vote counts,” said Iowa senior strong Kaevon Merriweather. “When you have an opportunity to make a change and an opportunity to impact something, or use your voice, I think you should always take the opportunity.
“That’s something that my ancestors and my predecessors fought for and I think it would be a shame of me to not use what they fought for and just use my voice and use my right to vote.”
Nine members of the Iowa football team were made available to the media at Tuesday’s weekly press conference.
And while most of the questions were about Saturday’s game against Wisconsin, the mid-term elections were also brought up, and every player either had voted or planned to vote.
“I think it’s important,” said senior quarterback and northern California native Spencer Petras, who voted last Wednesday in the Iowa mid-term elections. “For me, civic duty, right. You’ve got to go do it, especially since young people typically don’t go out and vote.
“In a lot of ways, you have no right to complain about anything if you don’t go out and make your voice heard.”
Shannon has noticed recently that the subject of voting gets brought up more now with his teammates and coaches than before.
From head coach Kirk Ferentz on down, the importance of voting is being emphasized.
“I would say this year more than previous years they’ve kind of just been putting it out there more for us, emphasizing he importance of voting and making sure your voice is heard,” Shannon said.
Asked why it’s brought up more now, Shannon said:
“I’m not sure. When you look at the statistics, I know that guys in our age category, specifically me, we have the least amount of votes I’m pretty sure when you count them all up. So, I think that’s one of the biggest reasons. We have a lot of say-so and we don’t really use it.”
The team held a 45-minute seminar last Thursday to help the players prepare for the mid-term elections.
“Some people on campus came over and just did a little voter education programmed for our guys and we’ve talked to our guys about that,” Kirk Ferentz said Tuesday at his weekly press conference. “We’ve got a great country, probably, not probably, we do live in the greatest country and one of the rights that we have that is so valuable is getting an opportunity to vote.
“We live in a country where a lot of people have opinions, but don’t really back it up with anything. So, this is a chance to back it up, and if you have an opinion about something, go vote and try to be part of the process.”
Senior receiver Nico Ragaini said Tuesday morning that he planned to vote later in the day.
“I’m going to vote, but I haven’t today. I’ve been at football since like six o’clock in the morning,” Ragaini said. “It’s definitely important. We had a meeting a couple days ago and they had people come in and talk to us about the importance of voting and how a lot of young guys, they don’t really think their vote is important, but everyone knows that your vote does matter.
“So, going out there and voting is definitely a step in the right direction for everyone.”
The players spend long hours together each week during the season, and it’s not unusual for them to talk about politics.
“Obviously, there’s locker room talk, and everybody talks about the issues they’re having and things that they want to be addressed,” said senior fullback Monte Pottebaum. “And I think that’s important within a team, guys get closer and just realize what’s important to the guys on your team outside of football.”