The UA College Republicans won the “Battle of the Ballot” debate against the College Democrats on Wednesday.
A three judge panel selected UACR as the winner. Samuel McKinney, UACD’s president, won the award for best Democrat debater, while Jacob Bailey, a UACR member, won the award for best Republican debater.
UA Common Ground, a student organization with a goal to bring students with varying political opinions together, hosted the debate.
“This is proof we can talk to each other, and we can be friends. We can love one another,” said Jason Odom, president of UACG.
The debate covered three topics: healthcare, school choice and immigration, with three students from both parties covering each topic.
Both organizations chose judges for the debate, while UACG chose a third judge. UACG chose Allen Linken, an associate professor in the Department of Political Science. UACD chose Caroline Wood, the development director for UACD, and UACR chose Lana Grace Fields, secretary for UACR.
The first topic debated was immigration in the United States. In January, the U.S. saw a record high of 53.3 million immigrants total in the country, according to Pew Research Center. That number fell to 51.9 million as of June, the research center said.
Some of the Trump administration’s efforts to reduce illegal immigration have been met with criticism from human rights activists nationwide, who say that among other things, immigrants are being mistreated in holding.
Odom asked the debaters how the U.S. could “maintain border security while upholding due process and human rights.”
Riley McArdle, executive director of UACR, emphasized the economic costs of deportation. McArdle said that through self-deportation, immigrants can “claim $1000 to get home, and then we also buy [them] an airline ticket one way out of our country.”
Self-deportation “costs much less than it costs to put people in a detention center,” McArdle said.
McKinney countered that “it is the measures by which we are deporting people that is inhumane, and it is a threat to the basic freedoms that all of us in this room enjoy.”
McKinney added that conditions at “Alligator Alcatraz,” a detention center in Florida, were “horrifying.”
The debate next shifted to a conversation about school choice. 19 states, including Alabama, have established at least voucher program that is universally accessible or on track to be universally accessible to students K-12.
Odom asked debaters what they believe the federal and state governments should do to “regulate or support school choice in a way that improves student outcomes without undermining public schools or exacerbating inequality.”
Samantha Hoefs, communications director of UACD, said that “the school choice program has effectively brought transfer portals to high school sports,” adding she believes this is “extremely detrimental for Alabamian communities.”
Bailey, a member of UACR, argued that “Alabama is a home for talent — not only academically and athletically.”
“With integrity, we can really build ourselves and give not only students, but parents the option to allow their kids to grow,” he said.
The final topic debated was healthcare in the U.S. The federal government is currently shut down in part because Democrats want to extend health insurance subsidies from the COVID-19 era that will expire at the end of this year.
Odom asked what approach the U.S. should take to “ensure universal access, cost containment and quality.”
Samuel Underhill, a member of UACR, lauded the American healthcare system.
“The greatest thing is, you can actually get care even if you’re not insured, because we have laws that protect people that go to the ER,” he said. Under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, hospitals are required to provide medical screenings regardless of a patient’s insurance status.
He also said that the subsidies placed during COVID “were put in place for a reason” and that Democrats are “making a huge stink about it and causing a shutdown trying to extend the subsidies.”
Reagan Hope Wilson, a member of Alabama Young Democrats and UACD, said, “300,000 working Alabamians are not receiving healthcare.”
According to Alabama Arise, a non-profit organization that advocates from improving the lives of Alabamians, nearly 300,000 low income Alabamians would benefit from Medicaid expansion that they currently don’t qualify for.
“We talk about being the wealthiest and strongest nation in the world,” Wilson said. “Well that’s a sin to talk about when your workers can’t go to the doctor.”
Odom said the fact that students could disagree with one another but still be joyful seeing each other showed that “change is coming.”
“It’s just about respecting one another, and once we learn how to do that, the rest comes easy,” Odom said.
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