ETSU Votes is encouraging students to register to vote in the upcoming presidential election.
ETSU Votes helps students get engaged with elections by helping them with voter registration and providing education about candidates, voting and national issues. It also holds events such as naturalization ceremonies and political debates to help inform and educate students about elections.
ETSU Votes and Democracy Fellows are planning a virtual weekly event for the fall semester called “Tuesday Talks”, which invites students to talk about social issues.
Joy Fulkerson, the director of Leadership and Civic Engagement, is encouraging students to vote early either by requesting an absentee ballot or voting during the early voting periods.
“We strongly believe that nobody should have to risk health and safety to be able to vote,” Fulkerson said. “We would really encourage for people who are eligible to submit a request for an absentee ballot or vote early and avoid peak times.”
Student Government Association Vice President Seth Manning said the upcoming election will look different due to COVID-19 and students must stay up-to-date if they want to request an absentee ballot in order to avoid polling stations amid the pandemic.
According to a 2014 and 2018 campus report on student voting rates for ETSU by the National Study of Learning, Voting and Engagement, freshmen had a lower voter turnout than upperclassmen. ETSU Votes is working to increase this turnout by partaking in a national initiative, Ask Every Student, which aims to inform first-year students of their opportunity to vote and how to register, as well as providing information about state voting policies.
The organization also welcomes international students to join the political conversion because many of the national issues also affect them.
“We obviously are interested in engaging eligible voters, but also people who really just care about democracy and informing others,” said Fulkerson.
ETSU Votes is working with Power the Polls to encourage students to help with polling worker shortages across the country due to the pandemic. Fulkerson said a lot of poll workers are generally elders, and therefore are at a higher risk for COVID-19, meaning they cannot work at polling stations on election day. The NCAA has made election day a “no play” day and Fulkerson said this is a good opportunity for college sports teams to volunteer at polling stations.
Due to the pandemic, the presidential campaigns will be more virtual than previous ones, and Fulkerson said this could give people more access than they would have had at in-person gatherings.
“We have more access to people and information and perhaps, therefore, more opportunities for people to be engaged, that perhaps an in-person gathering would have prohibited,” Fulkerson said. “We’re going to get to see some of the convention and debate stuff pretty up close and personal.”
Fulkerson added that media will be an important outlet for providing the public with access to debates and conventions throughout the election season.
Another side effect of the pandemic is a potential later results day due to an expected increase in absentee ballots and early votes. Unlike President Donald Trump’s victory speech in the early hours of Nov. 9, 2016, it could be weeks before the winner is announced this year.
ETSU Votes will be participating in a number of national holidays including National Voter Registration month in September, National Voter Registration Day on Sept. 22 and Vote Early Day on Oct. 24.
Any student who would like to be involved with ETSU Votes should email etsuvotes@etsu.edu.
