Oswego State students fall below the national average for people enrolled in four-year colleges that vote in both the presidential elections and midterm elections.
In the most recent midterm election in 2014, although 55.6 percent of students had been registered to vote, only 8.7 percent voted, according to the National Study of Learning, Voting and Engagement report for 2012 to 2014.
The average percentage of voters in public master’s institutions across the nation was 18.5 percent. Out of the 8,055 students enrolled on campus, 678 voted in 2014. The non-partisan campaign Vote Oswego hopes to double that statistic of Oswego State voters with this upcoming midterm election in November.
“Our theory for Vote Oswego is … that our students got registered in high school or they registered to vote in the 2012 presidential election, but the step between registering and casting a ballot can be a lot of things,” said Allison Rank, an assistant professor in the political science department. “It can be hard to know who you are voting for in a midterm election, so part of that is our voter education campaign [to] try to let people know and get their information.”
Rank started the campaign when she realized how much lower the voter turnout for Oswego State students was in comparison to the national average of four-year college student voters. She teaches the Vote Oswego class and oversees five student interns and 30 students from the class.
“[Politicians] think, ‘They are college students. As a group, they don’t vote enough for anyone to bother trying to speak to their issues,’” Vote Oswego member Connor Breese said. “But when we engage, when we vote, volunteer, show up for events and voice concerns, we are no longer a minority because that’s when we matter.”
According to Rank, the national average of voters in four-year colleges in 2016 was 76.6 percent, but Oswego State’s average compared at 54.6 percent. However, Oswego State’s average increased from the 2012 presidential election, in which 33 percent of students voted. People vote significantly less in midterm elections than presidential elections, and Rank believes that votes on a local level make more of an impact.
“[College students] live here frequently for four years,” Rank said. “Things that happen in the city have a really direct impact on [them], and I think the housing market is the biggest demonstration of how local laws and the enforcement of them really matter for the college students who attend here.”
Vote Oswego is currently aiming for three objectives: encourage students eligible to vote to register to vote if they have not already, to send in an application for an absentee ballot if they are registered in their hometown before Oct. 12 and to write down a reason to vote in a pledge that will be mailed back to the student before the general election to remind them of that reason.
Moreland Hall and Lonis Hall voters have a different polling place than the rest of campus due to where the Mackin Complex is situated, and it can be difficult for some students to find transportation to the off-campus location. Although Vote Oswego does not have a solution right now, Rank said they will be working to help the students know where their polling place is and to lay out the exact bus route for them to get there.
Dalton Bisson, the campus coalition intern for Vote Oswego, said he encourages those with vehicles to help out their friends by giving them a ride and carpooling.
“Get all of your friends in the car, go into town and help each other out,” Bisson said.
To prepare for the upcoming general election, Vote Oswego will be hosting events for training volunteers Sept. 23, National Voter Registration Day on Sept. 25 and an absentee ballot party Oct. 29 and 30, where students can get a free stamp to send their absentee ballots to their county.
Graphic by Shea McCarthy | The Oswegonian
