By Suzy Alstrin
With the U.S. election day approaching, students learned why their vote matters. On September 17th, National Voter Registration Day and Constitution Day, Cobb County Assistant District Attorney Dr. Donna Merrell presented to students assembled in the Bannister Glasshouse. Merrell formerly served as a political science professor at Reinhardt.
They listened intently as Merrell explained elective engagement, “The more educated you are, the more likely you are to vote because you find out why your vote matters.” She described voting procedures, resources to learn more about candidates, the impact Georgia can have on the outcome, and Generation Z voting statistics.
In the 2020 U.S. General Election, the national student voting rate jumped 14 percent to a record 66 percent, according to a report from the Institute for Democracy and Higher Education (cited by www.InsideHigherEd.com). Private institutions showed the highest motivation to vote at 75 percent. Other data found that students aged 18 to 21 outvoted those over age 30. With the sole exception of an international classmate, all the students attending the event said they had registered to vote.
After the program, students expressed their desire to vote. “I can’t complain about the outcome if I don’t use my vote to have the result I want. And as a woman I feel it’s really important to vote,” said Amberlyn Broussard (RU-2027). Her classmate Rebecca Jenkins (RU-2028) explained the speaker’s impact, “I didn’t know that my age group has the most influential value on people voting and we’re the age group that votes the least. I’ll definitely vote now, because I didn’t realize how much our vote impacts the country and the outcome of the election.”
National Voter Registration Day and Constitution Day, originally called Citizenship Day, celebrate democracy and encourage higher education institutions to support every individual’s voice and civic education.
