PHOTO COURTESY OF HAMILTON COLLEGE
On Sept. 24, National Voter Registration Day took place on the Hill and across the country. The day was first observed in 2012 and has grown in popularity every year since.
The aim of the day is to get as many people registered to vote prior to different state’s registration deadlines. It also acts as an education tool for those who do not know they need to update their registration or how to register in the first place. In 2018, 800,000 voters were registered as part of National Voter Registration Day.
At Hamilton, the effort involved making registration forms available at four spots around campus — the Taylor Science Center, Commons Dining Hall, McEwen Dining Hall, and the Howard Diner. Students who completed the registration then dropped them off at the HamVotes table or the Student Activities Office, both located in the Sadove Student Center.
I spoke with the co-chairs of HamVotes — Amanda Kim ’21 and Tatum Barclay ’22 — about Voter Registration Day and their work in organizing it. Kim told me that while she does not have a definite number, she estimates that over 100 students registered to vote through HamVotes.
Although students were the majority of voters registered during the day at Hamilton, registration was not exclusive to them.
“I had one woman, I’m not sure if she was a community member or a professor, come and register at our table in Sadove,” said Barclay. “This really made my day because I was able to see that our organization has a broad reach and is helping students, staff, faculty, and the community become registered to vote.”
Kim spoke about the importance of helping people find the resources to register how to vote, saying, “Voting is extremely important. However, the act of registering to vote can be pretty daunting. Forms can be confusing and there are common misconceptions about how the process works. Being able to provide resources that make the process of registering to vote smoother is important in ensuring that people actually vote.”
Barclay echoed this sentiment, saying, “Registering people, specifically college students, is incredibly important because our government is built on representation, and in order for the wishes of the public to be represented in the government all citizens’ voices must be heard on election day.
“College students are the future of our country and it is incredibly important for students to feel as though they have the agency to change their government, and the first step to having this agency is registering to vote.”
Kim connected voter turnout with the importance of having a say in government. “Democracies can only function properly when as many people are speaking up as possible,” she said. “It’s important for everyone to have a voice and have a say in the state of our union. Without everyone’s voices, governments cannot be truly representative.”
Kim said she specifically cares about fostering a culture of voting at Hamilton, saying, “College isn’t just about getting a degree or taking classes for your major. The true purpose of a college education is much broader than academia. College is about learning how to become a better-informed, better-educated, more well-rounded member of society. A huge part of that is being democratically engaged.
“By institutionalizing democratic engagement, Hamilton College is providing students with the real college experience.”
