Hobart and William Smith Colleges

22 October 2014 TurboVote Tracks, Boost Campus Voting

Through TurboVote, HWS has been helping students register to vote and engage consistently with the democratic process.

In 2012, HWS Votes began working with TurboVote, a project of the nonpartisan 501(c)(3) nonprofit Democracy Works, to provide students with registration information and opportunities, including absentee ballots, and make it easy for students and younger people to exercise civic rights and responsibilities, says Jeremy Wattles, assistant directorof the Center for Community Engagement and Service Learning. Even though we live in a difficult time in our democracy, voting still matters.

While registration numbers reflect the typical slump seen in mid-terms election years, Wattles says TurboVotes data suggests that our campus is more engaged than others, inthetop 15 or 20 campuses, and thats raw numbers, compared to much larger schools. Altogether, HWS has registered or sent absentee ballots to 237 students.

On Election Night, Tuesday, Nov. 4, HWS Votes, the Political Science Department and the Colleges Republicans and Democrats will co-host a party in the Vandervort Room in Scandling Campus Center.

In other efforts to engage voters, HWS Votes and the League of Women Voters recently hosted a panel discussion to discuss the proposal on this years New York State ballot that takes on the ways voting districts are drawn. The event was open to the public and was broadcast on WHWS-FM.