With the 2020 presidential election nearing, voters may have only heard of Republican incumbent President Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Joe Biden.

However, there is another person in the race: Libertarian Party candidate Dr. Jo Jorgensen.

At Penn State, one student is trying to raise awareness about Jorgensens campaign.

Timothy Tierney, the founder of Penn State for Jo Jorgensen, said although his group isnt an official student registered organization yet, he hopes other students will join the cause.

Tierney (junior-finance)thinks voters should be knowledgeable about all candidates, regardless of their political preference. Thats partially why hes volunteering on a national level to get students involved with Jorgensens campaign.

I think that the best form of democracy is to inform the voter on every candidate possible, Tierney said.

Tierney has heard many voters say, for example, that theyre voting for Biden only because they dont want to vote for Trump, even if they dont necessarily agree with Bidens policies.

I want to make it so that everyone is voting for a candidate, not against someone else, Tierney said. I think the first way to do that is to try to educate the populace about [Jorgensen].

One of Jorgensens biggest policy proposals is to bring American soldiers home from the numerous countries in which theyre stationed, according to Tierney and Joel Getz, the Jorgensen campaigns Pennsylvania social media manager.

With college students in mind, Jorgensen wants to abolish the U.S. Department of Education because higher education and its cost havent improved after 40 years of operation, according to Tierney.

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We want everyone to have access to the education that they want, and we want it to be at as low of a cost as possible, Tierney said.

He added that Jorgensen supports demilitarizing the police, something he said is prudent to the Penn State and State College communities.

Getz said the death of Osaze Osagie a 29-year-old Black State College resident with autism and schizophrenia who was fatally shot by a State College Police officer in March 2019 is just one example of why Jorgensen wants to reform Americas law enforcement system.

[Police officers] do face life and death situations, but maybe with different or more training, more of those [situations] could end with life and not death, Getz said.

Jorgensen also wants to make healthcare more affordable, combat poverty and remove quotas on the number of immigrants allowed into the country, according to her campaign website.

Today's students bring a fresh perspective to politics, Jorgensen said in an email from her campaigns media director. They remind us of the need to address the issues they're most concerned about, such as crushing student debt, the environment and jobs.

While her name wont appear on the ballot in all 50 states, Jorgensens campaign in Pennsylvania has hope.

Recently, the commonwealths Democratic leadership ruled that the Libertarian Party needs 5,000 physical signatures within a few weeks in order for Jorgensen to be included on its ballots.

However, Getz said that due to the coronavirus pandemic and social distancing guidelines, this has been difficult to achieve.

Getz said the campaign was hopeful that ballot requirements would be waived or reduced, or that Pennsylvania would allow for online petition signing, as some states have done.

However, Getz said the campaign was shot down during a virtual court hearing.

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The whole thing has been hypocritical at best and seemingly corrupt at worst, Getz said. If I hadnt lived here my whole life and I wasnt so interested in politics, it would probably make my head explode. Its kind of par for the course, even as infuriating as it is.

Sam Robb, the campaigns Pennsylvania coordinator, said the campaign is working with an army of volunteers to appear on the ballot.

This is a team effort. Just as our local Libertarian Party candidates are supporting Jo, our Jorgensen volunteers are working hard to support them in return, Robb said via email. It's not going to be easy, but we will not allow ourselves to be defeated.

In addition to the fight to get on the ballot, there is another battle at hand for the campaign.

Tierney hears many people say their vote wont count if they vote for a third-party candidate, and he believes this is because voters are stuck in a duopoly mindset.

Dr. Amy Sentementes, an assistant teaching professor of political science at Penn State, said this can largely be attributed to voters assumptions that a third-party candidate doesnt have a chance to win an election.

Therefore, she said, there is less of an incentive to vote for a candidate whose political views are similar to voters, and more of an incentive to vote for the candidate who actually has a chance to win.

We would have to change our electoral system in order to prevent this way of thinking, Sentementes said via email. Duverger's Law states that single-member electoral districts with plurality voting will produce a two-party system. We would have to adopt multimember districts and proportional representation in order to change this way of thinking.

Sentementes doesnt think well see a third-party candidate elected in this lifetime, but acknowledged that third parties can still influence Republican and Democratic candidates political agendas.

If the major parties anticipate prospective voters may vote third party or find the third party platform appealing, they could co-opt that platform without losing voters, Sentementes said.

Getz strongly believes that if elected, Jorgensen will work to serve all Americans.

She believes in all of your freedoms, all of the time, for everyone not when its convenient, not only when she agrees with them and not only when its politically advantageous, Getz said.

Tierney echoed Getzs sentiments.

Hopefully Penn State students will be convinced that Jo is the right person to lead this country in 2020, Tierney said.

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How the fight for third party candidates has reached Penn State - The Daily Collegian Online