For most college freshmen, the first few weeks of September are filled with the hustle and bustle of settling in to a new home away from home — purchasing textbooks, transforming small dormitories into sanctuaries, learning to navigate campus, and scouting out new friendships. However, in their quests to establish their identities on campus, many college students neglect to partake in perhaps one of the most effective ways of making their newly independent voices heard: registering to vote. Although young people ages 18–31 are one of the largest subsets of the electorate, millennial voter turnout continues to lag far behind older voters, which effectively silences an integral part of our population.
There are more than 125 institutions of higher education across Massachusetts and 85 in the Boston metropolitan area alone, and AAUW of Massachusetts recognizes the need to reach out to this traditionally underrepresented demographic through the It’s My Vote: I Will Be Heard voter education and turnout campaign. Eight branches and the state’s It’s My Vote street team have been hard at work to register students at colleges across the commonwealth, including two-year colleges like North Shore Community College, state schools like Worcester State University, and private institutions like Boston University. Using the techniques outlined in AAUW’s Woman-to-Woman Voter Turnout manual, branch and national members alike have made personal appeals at welcome-week fairs and tabled at student activities centers urging millennial women to vote. Relatively simple and inexpensive to plan, voter registration drives at local colleges and universities have the potential to yield substantial results in bringing the millennial generation to voting booths in droves.
What’s the key to ensuring that your campus voter registration drive will be successful? According to the AAUW of Massachusetts It’s My Vote street team, partnerships with existing campus student groups and administrative organizations are integral to any successful voter registration drive at a local college or university. The street team is currently working with Omega Phi Alpha, a community service sorority at Boston University, to implement a series of voter registration and canvassing efforts in the Greater Boston area throughout September and October.
“One of the biggest trends that you see across college campuses beyond just Boston is that students aren’t aware that they’re eligible to vote from their college addresses,” says Gabrielle Kur, president of the Alpha Mu chapter of Omega Phi Alpha. “We were grateful that AAUW of Massachusetts was willing to reach out to partner with us to develop more zeal on Boston campuses for voting this November, especially among young millennial women like us. Omega Phi Alpha is all about promoting strong women leaders, and strong women definitely vote.”
By reaching out to millennial women and encouraging them to make their votes count this November, your branch is doing more than just promoting civic participation — you’re showing younger women that both their votes and their voices are important. As AAUW of Massachusetts President Barbara Burgo says, “Fall is a busy time for college students, their families, and administration alike. But this year, with all the legislation that will impact us for years to come — especially in the area of women’s health — we must impress upon everyone the importance of getting out the vote in 2012! And what better way to accomplish this than sharing the information we have been receiving weekly from AAUW regarding our important national campaign, It’s My Vote: I Will Be Heard! Because, as we often say in AAUW, equity is still an issue! So register by the deadline and vote! Our future depends on it.”
This post was written by It’s My Vote Massachusetts campaign organizer Becca Rutenberg. Read more about her and about It’s My Vote in the Fall issue of Outlook magazine.
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