Election@Bard Gets Out the Vote
Written by Ava Mazzye ’20, Election@Bard Director, Team Leader, Vote Everywhere Ambassador.
On November 7th, Bard students turned out to vote in extremely high numbers for local and county races. Bard College, with help from Election@Bard, was recently awarded a bronze seal from the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge for having a student voting rate between 50% and 59%, during last year’s presidential elections, although the turnout for students registered on-campus was considerably higher. According to ALL IN, ”this is an outstanding achievement and we are proud to recognize Bard’s efforts to engage more students in American democracy.”
Voting is one of the most fundamental rights in a democratic society and we encourage all students to exercise the right to vote. Election@Bard is a nonpartisan group that works in partnership with the Andrew Goodman Foundation, as well as CCE. Election@Bard facilitates voter registration for students, provides information about candidates, hosts forums for candidates and students to meet, and protects the rights of students to vote and have their votes counted.
Early this fall, Election@Bard focused heavily on voter registration, since October 13th was the deadline for both the November general election and the June primary elections. To promote voter registration, Election@Bard developed a photo project using #WhyIVote. Students were photographed holding up posters highlighting their viewpoints about the importance of voting. The photographs were hung on the wall in the Bertelsmann Campus Center, a daily reminder to register and to vote in the November elections.
Most recently, Election@Bard hosted a workshop on November 3 called Elect Her, led by Running Start, a Washington, DC based non-profit dedicated to training the next generation of young women political leaders. The workshop trains young women leaders in the skills needed to run for student government, as well as other elected offices. Bard students walked away form the training with the skills to create campaign messages, communicate them effectively, and mobilize voters on campus.
With the local elections over, Election@Bard is looking forward to hosting a forum on December 1 with the Democratic congressional candidates of New York’s 19th district. In collaboration with Bard Democrats and Indivisible, the forum will allow the six congressional candidates to differentiate themselves, and relate their platforms to the Bard community and the general public.