The NESCAC Votes initiative has partnered with the ALL IN Campus Democracy challenge to promote student voter turnout on NESCAC college campuses. Photo courtesy of the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge
As the last day to vote in the general election quickly approaches, the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) is continuing and accelerating their NESCAC Votes initiative with the goals of increasing student voting turnout rates and promoting political discussion and engagement. This nonpartisan initiative, which arose out of a partnership between the NESCAC and the national ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge, was first announced in the spring of 2019. The initial goal laid out this past September was to increase the voting rates across the 11 NESCAC schools by 11 percentage points for the 2020 election (from 53% to 64%). The ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge encourages groups of colleges and universities across the country to develop programs and goals to promote civic engagement on their campuses. ALL IN also measures registration and voting rates at participating colleges, including Hamilton.
Ever since the initiative was approved for the College’s participation by President David Wippman following the 2016 election, Hamilton (through the Days-Massolo Center, the HamVotes Executive Committee, and HamVotes Student Ambassadors) has established its own specific action plan for the 2020 Presidential election. Their outlined strategy involves actions in the categories of voter registration, ballot access and turnout, voter education, and institutionalizing this work overall. Their two concrete goals were to increase student voter registration rates to 90% for the academic year and to achieve voter turnout rates in the 2020 election of at least 51.4%. Through detailed data provided through ALL IN, it is clear that Hamilton students in general have become significantly more civically engaged. The 2014 midterm election voting rate was only 9.9% for Hamilton students, compared to 40.4% in 2018. 58.2% of the student body voted in the 2016 election, up from 49.3% in 2012.
The Student Athlete Advisory Committees (SAAC) and student athletes of color councils (Athletes of Color Initiative, or ASI, at Hamilton) at all 11 NESCAC institutions have served important roles for these goals. The NESCAC Votes Initiative includes a Student Athlete Voting Challenge at each college, aiming for 100% voter turnout for all student athletes. One of the strategies outlined in Hamilton’s original action plan was to “liaison and engage athletes in voting activities and conversations.” Student athletes on campus were recognized for their ability to influence each other and start discussions, within teams and with other organizations and the rest of the student body. Julia Martin ’21, a member of Hamilton’s swimming and diving team, serves as Chair of NESCAC SAAC and has been working with the rest of Hamilton’s SAAC Executive Board to strategize spreading voter awareness for student athletes. All athletic directors have also agreed to designate Nov. 3 a day off from all athletic activity. NESCAC Athletics social media accounts are being used to encourage participation in this challenge by posting leaderboards, as well as a running list of teams across the conference that have reported a 100% voter registration rate.
These efforts are all intended to work in conjunction with those from the HamVotes student group, which was established in 2017. This fall, HamVotes has organized voter registration tables, voter education programs, delivery of ballots to the Oneida County Board of Elections, free stamps for mail-in and absentee ballots, and shuttles to and from the polls for students voting locally during early voting days and on Nov. 3. Hopefully, these actions have all been successful enough to boost Hamilton’s voter turnout even further this upcoming election.