Over the course of the last few months, I have had the honor and privilege of helping organize the annual Penn State student voter registration and civic participation campaign known as the PSU Votes Drive, a role which the Chair of the UPUA’s Governmental Affairs Committee his historically been responsible for filling. In planning it, I worked to gather leaders from a host of different organizations on campus, including the College Democrats, Independents, and Republicans, the Black, Latino, and Asian Pacific Islander Desi American (APIDA) Caucuses, the Greek Councils, the Graduate and Commonwealth Student Governments, and more to discuss exactly how we’d effectively reach our goal in raising our student voter registration and turnout numbers. At first, I thought this would be difficult considering the current political climate in which we live, though I was generally relieved to see such an effort made by all to remain respectful and collaborative of opposing viewpoints throughout the voter registration drive’s planning and execution processes.
Our team was tasked with meeting high expectations set by previous years’ PSU Votes Weeks, which have been generally regarded as increasingly effective as more and more years go by. In meeting and exceeding those expectations, our team did our very best. Until I see the actual turnout numbers for this municipal election, I generally leave it to others to determine for themselves what expectations were or were not met; and, while it’s difficult to say without a drop of doubt that we succeeded in the task, I’m deeply proud of the work done by everyone in trying.
This year, I chose to focus heavily on the branding of PSU Votes, beginning with the distribution of official PSU Votes t-shirts to every volunteer who helped students register to vote. Then, by distributing photos and updates of our events via social media, I aimed to help our audience of students bridge the connection between the registration drive and the actual people involved in it, as well as the empowerment taking a few moments to register brought about. By encouraging participation in the election process, drives like PSU Votes allow students to share in a democratic tradition which countless men and women throughout our history have fought and died to procure. If t-shirts sporting the official PSU Votes logo would in any way allow students to more easily partake in that American tradition, I wanted to be sure we gave it a shot.
With the help of our committee’s Vice Chair, Steven Zhang, and our Director, Brady Feuer, we were able to experiment with new ways to increase our reach, including renting a cart loaded with ice cream from Berkey Creamery to draw crowds in around the HUB, expanding our efforts into the commons areas on select days, and holding registration shifts at evening events throughout the week. Some of these events included a Climate Action Policy Debate between the College Democrats, Independents, and Republicans in which I was fortunate enough to serve as debate moderator, as well as the lecture hosted by the Latino Caucus and given by labor leader and civil rights activist Dolores Huerta. All of this would not have been possible without the precision and experience of our executive staff, including our Director of Communications, Liza Buschinski, and our Chief of Staff, Ben Cutler. My thanks are forever directed toward them for their trust in me as we strove to set new precedents and standards for every PSU Votes Drive to come.
One of these precedents includes finding a permanent digital format for voter registration. I opted to use the League of Women Voters’ website www.Vote411.org to register students via iPad rather than paper, as has been traditionally done. This was largely due to the fact that paper registration forms have been improperly completed, and have resulted in far more confusion and trouble than should be required of students who would generally like a seamless registration process. Not only did the Vote 411 website ensure quality control of the forms, it allowed registrants to receive important updates on the election timeline, check their current registration, and even learn about the candidates who will appear on the ballot in upcoming elections. While there were a few technical or logistical hiccups here and there, including at one point not having enough iPads for all of our volunteers due to the constant stream of student registrants, paper forms were used only as a last resort or in the case of an emergency. Even then, we collected over 200 paper registrations. One can only imagine how many digital forms were submitted over the course of the week.
As the week wound down, I entrusted the fate of the week to those I’d delegated authority over different aspects of the week’s success while I joined the Presidential Leadership Academy for our semesterly professional development trip which was this time held in Washington, D.C. I could not be more proud of the professionalism and care which the drive received by those I entrusted it to while I was absent. Updates on the status of this and that were at the ready, though rarely if ever did I need to step in for damage control while I was away. The trust I have in those who helped in producing and sustaining the week even despite my absence is immense.
In summary, I can truly say the Drive did much in setting up a system comprehensive enough to prepare for what very well may be the year with the largest numbers of voter participation by students in recent memory—2020. With a clear vision for the future of PSU Votes obtained by careful examination of what was executed well and what could use some fixing moving forward, I can truly say that our team has done its very best to make sure that PSU Votes in not just this upcoming election, but in every election following it too.
A few articles on PSU Votes, for those of you who may be interested!
Zach,
I really enjoyed reading this article and learning about your efforts toward the PSU Votes campaign. I find the concept of mobilizing student voters fascinating. I recently wrote a blog featuring the topic called “Constitution Day.” If young adults (who are over 20% of the voting demographic) voted in consistently high numbers, I would reason that policy would change dramatically. The reason most politicians still adopt more conservative viewpoints (that seem at odds with public sentiment and at times tone-deaf) is because of how reliable the older voting demographic is. Public officials who want to get re-elected will bet on voters they can trust.
Thank you for your work on PSU Votes!
– Justin