The 2024 election season is upon us, and voters across the U.S. are preparing to cast their votes in local, state-wide and federal elections.
Kent State Votes, a USG-affiliated and university-wide nonpartisan coalition, is working towards helping students participate in the voting process. These organizations are working to help students become more involved and informed in the upcoming election by addressing possible barriers to voting participation.
Associate director of Community Engaged Learning at Kent State and co-chair of Kent State Votes Craig Berger recommends all students interested in voting to visit the circulation desk at the library. There is where you can find Ohio voter registration forms and Ohio absentee ballot request forms available. The circulation desk can also provide advice and resources to help out-of-state students register to vote and participate in the election in their home state.
“The library is probably the main location on campus where, if students have any doubts at all, they can go there and get information,” Berger said.
The coalition will staff a table inside the doors of the library from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Wednesdays to assist students with voter registration until the Oct. 7 deadline.
“Students can already go to the circulation desk if they have any questions anytime the library is open, but for those days there’s even more of a focused effort on helping anyone with questions and anyone wanting to register to vote,” Berger said.
Kent State Votes is sharing important voter information for students, including posting content to their Instagram account, creating a new website and working with university offices to hold presentations, classes and meetings. There will also be PSAs read at athletic events and displays set up in residence hall lobbies for additional voting information.
According to Berger, one of the biggest things the coalition is working on is a calendar for their website which will collect different kinds of election related events from different departments, colleges, offices and student organizations (as well as important voting process dates and deadlines).
“A lot of what happens at Kent State is information that tends to stay in pockets and silos,” Berger said. “We feel like as a coalition around engaging voters, we have an obligation to make sure that we’re pulling out that information and making sure it’s visible to as many people across the university as possible.”
There are also resources provided on the coalition’s website to help students learn more about candidates and issues.
Barbara Hipsman Springer, an emerita faculty member of Media and Journalism and campus liaison from the League of Women Voters of Kent, said the website has helpful voter guides from the League of Women Voters of Kent and Vote411.org, which are similar to printed voter guides of the past.
“Those printed voter guides have kind of gone by the wayside, but those guides would ask questions of all candidates, simple questions like, ‘What do you stand for?’” Hipsman Springer said. “So, that’s still existent.”
Although voting is a choice, all are recommended and encouraged to go out and exercise their right. Hipsman Springer specifically called on students to take pride in their ability to have a stake in their country’s future.
“You don’t need a PhD to vote,” Hipsman Springer said. “You just need to have a heart to vote, [if] you’re worried about the world, go vote.”
John Engoglia is a beat reporter. Contact him at [email protected].
