Campus initiative encourages student engagement in election

The 2024 Presidential Election is a month away, and Clark University wants to make sure eligible students are registered and prepared to cast their ballots.

October 7–11 is National Voter Education Week (NVEW), and the Community Engagement and Volunteering office, in collaboration with the Division of Student Success and other Clark departments, is holding events to promote the voting process campuswide. NVEW is a nonpartisan campaign, involving hundreds of partners across different sectors, to provide information and support to voters.

The University also encourages members of the community to visit Clark Votes, a one-stop resource where eligible voters can learn about voting options (in-person, early, or by mail/absentee), find voting locations, check what’s on the ballot, and access links to other election information.

“We’re working to engage students in critical discourse around meaningful community and civic engagement,” says Carla Orellana, associate director of community engagement and volunteering. Those efforts kicked off in the spring semester, when 23 students participated in the Alternative Spring Break Worcester program and learned about grassroots organizing and civic engagement.

Events this week include a session on voting and registration processes; voter registration opportunities; voter trivia night, where knowledge meets civic engagement; and a screening and discussion of “Join or Die,” a documentary that explores the complexities of unity and division in today’s society.

“We hope to increase voter participation for domestic students and education for all our students,” Orellana says. To that end, an event is being planned where international students can learn more about the American voting system.

“Approximately 85% of our voting-eligible students were registered to vote in 2020,” says Danielle Morgan Acosta, senior associate dean of student success. “We would like to increase this number and are particularly interested in expanding voting across identities.”

The deadline to register to vote in the November 5 election is October 26. Vote-by-mail applications must be received by the local election office by October 29. Early voting will be held October 19 to November 1.