Midterm elections are when political parties vie to win a majority of the seats in government.
With the first open presidential election just around the corner in 2016, winning a majority of the available positions would give either major political party control over the nation's decision-making process.
Despite historically low turnouts, campus representatives of both main political parties have been hard at work for their own local candidates and registering voters.
"Vote what you feel in your heart and what you feel is most consistent with what you believe in," said Morgan Giddens, chairman of the Auburn Campus Republicans and senior in accounting. "The main thing is just getting voter registration up. College-age kids don't tend to vote in elections lately. For me, I just want people to have a chance to vote. I would rather someone vote for something opposing to me than not vote at all."
Giddens said members of Campus Republicans were invited to spend their fall break on an all-expenses-paid trip to Atlanta to assist on the David Perdue campaign for the Georgia Senate against Democratic nominee Michelle Nunn.
In the past, Campus Republicans assisted in campaigns for Alabama senate nominee Tom Whatley, Attorney General Luther Strange and 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
Giddens joined the Campus Republicans during the 2012 presidential race and said the outcome was "a pretty hard hit for the Republican Party."
"That was a very winnable election, and honestly, we should have hit the minority groups a lot harder," Giddens said. "That's one place that Republicans failed, in my opinion. The Republican Party needs to show that they care and fight the perception that we've become elitists."
Despite political trends toward marriage equality, abortion rights and more liberal policies, Giddens said he still leans towards more conservative policies.
"(Marriage equality) is one of the most important issues for me because of my faith in those areas," Giddens said.
According to Giddens, opinions are likely to change by generation.
"With the younger generations coming, it's a possibility that there will be a more relaxed stance on social issues in the future. Honestly, I can't say for certain, but it's a possibility that that could happen."
At the opposite end of the ballot, the Auburn Campus Democrats have been fighting what Alicia Valenti, president of the Auburn Campus Democrats and senior in public administration, calls an uphill battle.
"Maybe not in this state, because it's so conservative and you have the Republican super majority in the state senate, but at the national level, I think (this election) is going to make a big difference in terms of the composition of the Senate and the House," Valenti said. "Say that the Senate becomes two-thirds Republican. If a Supreme Court justice leaves, they're more likely to want a conservative justice to take their place. That could make a big difference in the long run, moreso than any other member of Congress taking office."
While still the minority party in Alabama state legislature, Democrats embody the dissenting opinion on many social rights topics, making it more appealing to women and younger generations in the process, Valenti said.
Though Democrats might enjoy a majority position in other parts of the country, Valenti said, in the South, Alabama specifically, it can be difficult to campaign on anything other than a Republican ticket.
When she joined during the 2012 presidential election, Valenti said she and other members of the Auburn Campus Democrats raised money to support the Obama campaign in states where the incumbent was predicted to have a stronger following.
Additionally, Democrats in Alabama have begun adopting Republican traits to make themselves and their policies more attractive to conservative voters.
Valenti pointed to Democratic candidate for Attorney General Joe Hubbard as the latest example in blurring political lines.
"He's pro-family but also pro-gun, and that's definitely not one of our platforms," Valenti said. "Just locally, I think that's a good example of the extremism that has made Democrats more centrist. There may be people who think that [Democrats] are leaning too far left, but in my personal opinion, I think the Republican Party has been pulling the nation, as a whole, more to the right."
Members of the Auburn Campus Democrats have been volunteering on the campaign of former Auburn professor and state representative candidate Shirley Scott-Harris.
Harris is running on a platform of equal and affordable college education and fighting unemployment.
"The Democrats have an eventual goal of making college more affordable and accessible, creating greater equality, both economic and social, and to maintain a woman's bodily autonomy," Valenti said.
The dominant election theory for both sides has been to regroup their bases while attracting new voters, but political victories this year might hinge on neither the candidates nor the policies, but the voting itself.
The rules of the election vary state to state because of the 2013 outcome of Shelby County v. Holder. Because of the case, states no longer have to review changes to their local election practices with the Department of Justice.
"[Now] states can change the election laws whenever they want, and many already have," said Kathryn Hale, political science professor. "Many states have chosen to impose new rules about identification or changed restricted periods of early voting or the ability to register and vote on the same day. These are things that we could generally think of as making (elections) more convenient for voters."
In recent years, the Democratic Party has taken measures to expand access to elections, while Republicans have made efforts to restrict or limit elections, Hale said.
Under new regulations passed in Alabama, Wisconsin, Kansas and Texas, among others, voters will need to provide additional identification and proof of citizenship, making the process more difficult for voters who don't have access to those documents.
With a predicted turnout expected to be lower than the midterm elections in 2006 and 2010, Hale said the rules of access and participation this year will matter even more.
"The big strategy is set up the rules so you can win," Hale said. "That's what politics is all about, winning so you can write the rules to win again."
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