By Alicia Method, Staff Writer
Students pose with the Bill from the Schoolhouse Rock video “How a Bill Becomes a Law” at the Eisenhower Institute’s Voter Registration Day on Sept. 22, 2022 (Photo Kate Borosky/The Gettysburgian).
As midterm elections get closer, Gettysburg College and its student-led political organizations have worked to raise awareness of voter registration on campus.
Gettysburg Votes, a non-partisan coalition of student representatives from Pi Sigma Alpha, Center for Public Service, Eisenhower Institute, and Visiting Professor of Political Science Lucy Britt’s POL 201 course, have organized several events on campus to generate student involvement in voter registration.
One of these events took place earlier in October. The event was led by Pi Sigma Alpha and featured refreshments by Ziggy Donuts.
Assistant Professor of Political Science Lindsay Reid, the Pi Sigma Alpha advisor for Gettysburg Votes, noted that the Ziggy Donuts event “generated a lot of good energy around the upcoming election and [Gettysburg Votes] received quite a few new voter registrations.”
Gettysburg Votes has also organized a competition between residential buildings, Greek organizations, and college sports teams to see which group can get the highest percentage of voter registration.
Riley Meyers ’24, a member of Gettysburg Votes and a student from Professor Britt’s POL 201 course, stated that the competition has garnered some participation. She mentioned that social media posts on the Gettysburg Votes Instagram account have accumulated success in their mission.
Both Meyers and Reid discussed the importance of student’s political engagement in regards to voting.
Reid stated, “Our hope was to increase registration and, in turn, increase student engagement in these critically important elections. While midterms aren’t as high profile, their outcome has really meaningful implications for our everyday lives—and this is all the more true in a time when some candidates and elected officials are questioning and challenging the very fundamentals of U.S. elections. So, the bottom line is we want students to vote—this is their future, and I firmly believe everyone should use their voice to shape that future.”
Meyers echoed Reid’s thoughts, saying, “We all feel it is important to increase voter registration because it is a way to be involved in the policy that goes into our everyday lives.”
Along with Gettysburg Votes, college political organizations such as Gettysburg Democrats and Gettysburg Republicans have been involved in voter registration efforts.
Carter Hanson ’23, a member of Gettysburg Votes through the Eisenhower Institute, also serves as the President of College Democrats.
Hanson commented on his dual experience and the difficulties of maintaining a non-partisan mindset when working with Gettysburg Votes.
“Well, it’s an interesting thing for me to have to work with personally,” he said. “But you know, the way I handle it, basically, when I’m representing EI, I just try to keep [College Democrats] out of the equation.”
As president of College Democrats, Hanson helmed tedious efforts to gather information about voter registration at the College. With Hanson’s suggestion, College Democrats, funded by Student Senate, purchased the voter roll for Adams County.
Using this public information, the team narrowed the list down to student voters and compiled statistical charts about voter trends at the College.
According to this data, there are about 362 students registered to vote in Adams County, not including students who are registered to vote in their home state.
Of these voters, 67% are registered as Democrats, 8% are registered as Republicans, and 23.2% are labeled as “unaffiliated.” Carter believes that “most of these will be leaning Democratic, but don’t want to say it.” And 1.7% are registered as something “other,” or their political party is unknown.
College Democrats used this data to understand what organizations garnered the most student voter registrations this semester, who registered to vote most often, and with which party. Carter displayed that College Democrats have registered twice as many students as the Gettysburg Votes campaign.
His data showed that the Class of 2023 had the most number of people registered, and 58% of students who are registered on campus in Adams County are women or put “female” on their voter registration.
To increase voter registration, College Democrats ran weekly voter registration drives. Carter believes that using paper forms is a more effective form of interacting with potential voters than QR codes.
He said, “People will scan a QR code and forget about it.You have to get them to stay there and fill it out in front of you. And then you can double check to make sure they did it correctly. So we’ve been doing that every week.”
College Democrats have hosted voter registration tables at campus events such as Gender, Sexuality, and Resource Center and women, gender, and sexuality studies departmental events.
According to Hanson, College Democrats is heavily focused on getting students to register, not just in general, but in Adams County.
Carter noted, “What we’re trying to get people to realize is that your vote won’t mean anything in New Jersey. It’s a very solidly democratic state. Even if you’re a Republican, it won’t count there because you’re never gonna win…Pennsylvania, it’s really close. And so what I would say is, unless you’re from Wisconsin, Georgia or Arizona, vote here, basically.”
Hanson emphasized the importance of these midterm elections and the issues he perceived to be at stake.
“If Shapiro loses and Mastriano wins, Republicans will control completely the state government and they’ll ban abortion,” he said. “That’s what they promised to do. They want to cut education funding by half. And Mastriano is an active election denier. It’s a very frightening election.”
Another student-led political organization, College Republicans, has also been involved in voter registration efforts.
Alex Rosado ’24, the president of College Republicans, discussed the group’s connection with the Youth Director of the Dr. Oz for Senate campaign. This connection, he said, “gave our members hands-on experience in door-knocking, voter registration, canvassing, and other critical strategies in catalyzing Pennsylvanians to support our cause.”
Rosado noted that members of College Republicans knocked on over 2,000 doors for the Oz campaign, “registering, educating, and establishing connections with hundreds of new voters simultaneously.”
Rosado compared College Republicans tactics to other political organizations on campus, saying, “While the Gettysburg College Republicans may not be as up-front about advertising our voting endeavors compared to other clubs at Gettysburg College, we prefer to take a more ‘behind-the-scenes’ approach.”
College Republicans favor social media campaigns and direct messaging over tabling. Rosado said, “Establishing personal relationships with each voter and hearing their candidate and policy concerns is a gratifying feedback loop.”
In addition to door knocking, social media campaigns, and direct messaging, College Republicans raised $620 for the Oz, Mastriano, and Scheller for Congress campaigns through a two-day fundraiser.
Rosado stated that while Gettysburg College Republicans “identify voter registration as significant in any election,” their priority is to “spread conservative values, promote GOP candidates, identify robust policy platforms, and educate the public on how these races will influence their livelihood.”
Ilana Subramanya ’24 discussed her decision to register to vote in Pennsylvania.
“I think a lot is at stake in this election, in Pennsylvania,” Subramanya said. “I live in a strong blue state so my vote doesn’t matter as much, and Pennsylvania is a swing state so I wanted to make more of an impact than I would if I didn’t change my registration.”
Dylan Hewett ’24 spoke about why he is not registered to vote, saying, “I am not registered to vote. When I was a senior in high school, everyone was voting for the 2020 elections. I wanted to vote, but I couldn’t because I was 17, and I never got around to registering. I’m not very familiar with it, or in that group of people.”
When asked if he was interested in registering, Dylan stated that he was but did not know how.
For this year’s midterm elections, which will take place on Tuesday, November 8, students can vote in the CUB ballroom between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m.
This is a change from the past few years where students voted in alternative locations, such as the firehouse, due to complications from COVID-19.
Seeing the difficulties of having an off-campus voting location, Hanson penned a letter to President Bob Iuliano asking to move the polling location to the CUB ballroom. The letter was signed by the presidents of College Democrats, Socialists, Republicans, and Libertarians. After an initial refusal due to the perception that it was too late for a change to be made, Hanson sought information from sources such as city council, and the request was honored.
About the change, Rosado said, “Gettysburg College Republicans recognize the importance of voting in person on Election Day and providing the public an outlet to express their support or concern with the contemporary political environment. We signed the proposal without hesitation and are thankful that it was honored.”
Students who wish to register to vote in Pennsylvania are able to do so with their Gettysburg College addresses, even if they are registered to vote in their home state, provided that they only vote once.
The deadline to register to vote in Pennsylvania is Monday, Oct. 24 by 5 p.m.
