Featured Photo by Hannah Ferreira
Story by Hannah Ferreira
Each presidential election season in the United States, issues ranging from healthcare to education to foreign policy are debated and rehashed over and over by various political candidates and splashed across the media, with the quippiest responses made into soundbites and every wrong move dissected for months by the American people. Debates, rallies and town halls draw in thousands of loyal fans, and millions sit on the edge of their seats as election results begin to roll in. The sounds of victory, as well as defeat, are heard from miles away.
However, despite the zeal with which Americans consume political drama, it’s challenging to get people to turn out to vote. Biased news, scandals and a general lack of trust in government create a culture of apathy that is hard to combat. Many discount the power of their ballot when election day rolls around and neglect to make it to the polls.
There’s a demographic trend for those who vote on election day. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, ages 65 and up have consistently turned out at much higher rates than ages 18 through 29. This imbalance has numerous political consequences, and many seeking a political culture shift have pointed to remedying this generation gap as the key to unlocking a new era of American politics.
That younger demographic concerns all those wanting to win their next election or help someone else do so. Older adults dominate political offices nationwide, as established career politicians with similarly older, loyal constituents.
However, most seem keenly aware of the floodgates young people would open if they turned out to vote in full force. It’s at least a minor talking point during almost every election season for politicians, civic engagement groups and interest groups trying to put their agendas into motion.
For the most part, it’s a bipartisan issue. Regardless of political leaning, most people agree everyone of legal age should get out to vote.
However, initiatives that try to close the generational voting gap sometimes face resistance that feels targeted.
University campuses nationwide have been a battleground for these fights for years now.
The college campus is probably the most critical place to influence the trajectory of an emerging adult’s life. Students often live away from home for the first time and are on the cusp of being totally independent. As such, it’s a critical – and sensitive – period of change.
Personal and political habits and ideologies formed there will often last a lifetime. Many civic engagement organizations target this specific cohort and try to influence them positively toward being an informed and engaged citizen.
At Middle Tennessee State University, there is one organization that is leading the charge in Murfreesboro and Rutherford County to get MTSU students out to vote. Their fellow students – not “the adults in charge” – are at the forefront.
The American Democracy Project, or ADP, is often stationed around various parts of campus under an unassuming white tent, student volunteers calling out “are you registered to vote?” or “where are you registered to vote?” to passersby on their way to class.
Some glance over apprehensively and then avoid eye contact. Others use their headphones as an excuse to pass right by without notice. Those directly addressed or approached often mutter something like “got to get to class” or “sorry.”
It’s a relatively rare but exciting glimmer of hope when a student walks over to the table and asks questions, or smiles and says they’ve already registered.
The members of ADP at the table always greet registration hopefuls enthusiastically, even if it takes some persuasion. They answer questions, make small talk, and trade students their completed registration forms for small pins and stickers as a token of their appreciation.
It’s a club with a simple mission. It’s the campus chapter of a “non-partisan national student organization” with the aim of getting people registered to vote, said Victoria Grigsby, political science major and President of the MTSU chapter of ADP.
She joined the organization initially because it is “something concrete and needed” for students. She has since become the central leader of the organization as it continues to expand its influence and advocacy work.
Especially in the fall, when election season is around the corner, student volunteers are out most days of the week, rain or shine, helping their peers fill out the voter registration forms. Students typically don’t find the forms too difficult to complete. Their biggest obstacle at this stage is likely that they have to call their moms because they don’t know their Social Security Number. Sometimes, the most challenging part for the volunteers is keeping the tent from blowing away on a windy day.
It’s not glamorous work by most stretches of the imagination, but it gets done.
At each Friday afternoon meeting, donuts and cookies, as well as commiserations and ideas, are shared among members as they reflect on a week full of activity. It’s a diverse but passionate group, with a variety of backgrounds, interests, goals and majors represented at the table.
The MTSU chapter has won the Tennessee Secretary of State’s College Voter Registration Competition for three consecutive years, beating out all other 4-year public universities in the state. It’s no stroke of luck: most members of ADP devote numerous hours a week to the club, whether attending meetings, tabling or promoting the club by word of mouth or social media.
But the fight doesn’t end with voter registration, even when the competition deadline passes and voter registration is no longer “in season.”
When more complicated barriers to voting arise, the ADP often steps up to the challenge and tackles larger issues. For years, one specific goal has been at the forefront of ADP’s struggle for increased civic engagement.
Getting an on-campus polling place has been on the minds of every member for almost as long as the chapter has been in action. This proposition, which the University of Tennessee and East Tennessee State University have both implemented, is a no-brainer to so many members of ADP and quite a few students at MTSU. A change.org petition started by the club in late September has now garnered well over 100 signatures, even without the publicity it will soon receive with flyers posted around campus.
The university president Sidney A. McPhee expressed his ongoing support for the efforts at a recent Student Government Association meeting, though he politely declined the offer of attending the upcoming Rutherford County Election Commission meeting on Nov. 6.
Mary Evins, professor of History at the university and faculty advisor for ADP, said in an interview for WKRN that students wanting a place to vote on campus is a “recurring theme.”
This statement makes sense when considering the demographics of MTSU. It’s known for having a commuter-heavy population, with many students cutting down on college costs by driving to their classes daily instead of paying for on-campus housing. A large percentage of commuters and non-commuters alike work jobs in addition to full-time school.
The lack of polling places on campus makes it harder for students to cast their ballots, said Nancy Prescott, a graduate student.
Prescott was part of a program as an undergraduate that allowed her to take fewer credit hours while working over 32 hours per week and saving money on tuition. She said that the lack of polling places on campus made it significantly harder, and often impossible, for her to vote; She generally went straight from her classes to her job and worked through the night to afford her education.
Her story represents one of thousands on MTSU’s campus that make it uniquely challenging for a college student to vote.
The closest polling location to the campus is currently at Central Magnet School, about a 15 to 20 minute walk from most sites on campus. While clearly not an impossible or even arduous trek, it still presents a barrier to student voting.
College students, whether or not they have a job, have busy schedules that often limit off-campus expeditions. The walk to and from the closest polling place could be upwards of 30 minutes, without considering the time spent waiting in line to cast their ballots. Students with disabilities may not be able to make the trip at all. Some students do not have cars on campus, and even though the walk may be short, some may feel unsafe making their way into the local neighborhood.
Even for those who technically have none of these barriers, an on-campus location significantly reduces the allure of complacency and the temptation to give into the lazy facets of human nature we know so well.
It wouldn’t just benefit the university students, either. The community would benefit from an additional location that decreases long lines at any other location.
According to the Andrew Goodman Foundation, another civic engagement organization that has recently partnered with Middle Tennessee State University through Evins, “An on-campus polling place is a powerful symbol of an institutional commitment to student voting by campus and local election officials.”
While MTSU has thus far maintained a formidable “institutional commitment,” providing numerous resources and opportunities allowing students to engage in their communities, local election officials have been unyielding.
Elliot Certain has been involved with the American Democracy Project for three years and said that in that time, ADP has “attended election commission meetings, signed petitions, spoken in subcommittees, organized social media campaigns and so much more,” to get a polling location on campus.
Members of ADP have visited the Rutherford County Election Commission numerous times each year. This is where the most direct and important confrontations take place. Students take up as many three-minute speaking time slots as they are allowed to present their arguments in a unified front, appealing to the commissioners’ sense of civic duty and practicality.
However, despite their best efforts to remain passionate, yet collected and respectful, they are rejected. May commissioners often scroll on their phones or have their backs turned to the speakers, failing to give due effort to take the idea at face value. They’ve given these students a decisive “no” for years now.
There’s a handful of reasons they could be denying these students.
Firstly, we are all at least somewhat aware of the infamous snail-like bureaucracy that is in all parts of government. Miles of paperwork seem to stand in the way of most people’s dreams of changing things for the better.
These commissioners could just want to avoid that, which while incredibly frustrating, is likely a story that occurs in many cities and towns nationwide with proactive citizens that find the rules and regulations too much to work with.
Secondly, from what little information I could glean about the members of the Rutherford County Election Commission from the official website, most seem to affiliate themselves with the Republican party or at least lean conservative.
Rutherford County was part of the vast majority of counties in Tennessee that voted Republican.
According to the Tennessee Secretary of State, Former President Donald Trump won 81,480 votes in Rutherford County compared to 59,341 for current President Joe Biden.
Republicans also won seven out of nine House seats and claimed the open Senate seat and these are the national level elections.
With the smaller voting pools of local elections, students at a large state university having easy access to the polls could change the political atmosphere of Murfreesboro.
So while getting the youth out to vote should be a bipartisan issue, it sometimes isn’t, simply because of the difference in generational politics.
It’s a small wonder that the local election commission hasn’t dashed ADP’s dreams completely. Even more extraordinary is the persistence and optimism of its members which only grows when faced with hardships like these.
They continue sitting under the tent for long, unpleasant hours despite few registrations. They continue to speak at election commission meetings, even when they know commissioners are not paying attention to them. They reach out to prominent MTSU faculty, staff, or students for backup. They swallow their pride and continually ask uncomfortable, yet necessary, questions of their peers. They share their hopes and dreams for American democracy inside and out of club time.
It’s a club with a bright future ahead of them, regardless of the setbacks that they continually face. Filled with determined students and led by force of nature Evins, they will accomplish anything they will set their minds to.
It’s students like these – both at MTSU and campuses across America – that will dramatically change the face of American politics for years to come.
In their pursuit of democracy on campus, these students serve as a testament to the power of youth engagement, reminding us that the fight for representation doesn’t start at the national or legislative level, but right here where they eat, sleep and study.
