HWS News
17 September 2024 • Service HWS Votes Prepares for Big Year
Non-partisan organization will host events to help students register to vote and learn about local and national candidates and issues.
With Presidential, state and local elections less than two months away, HWS Votes plans to increase voter registration and inform students on the candidates and issues this semester.
Now in its 20th year, HWS Votes has gained national recognition for voter engagement, leading Washington Monthly to rank HWS first in the nation for service. After a successful presidential debate watch event, HWS Votes, coordinated by Rafael Aguilar ’25, Jasmine Goncalves ’27 and Kelly Howe ’26, will host a screening of Election Night coverage on Nov. 5. The event will take place at 9 p.m. in the Vandervort Room and will feature pizza, snacks and giveaways.
The organization will also hold other events and initiatives across campus to spread awareness of the upcoming elections. This includes tabling in the Scandling Campus Center, hosting vote tripling dinners where students check their registration status and encourage others to develop a plan to vote, and displaying voter and registration information in the Warren Hunting Smith Library. Additionally, HWS Votes will hold registration events on national civic holidays, such as today, National Voter Registration Day, and during Voter Education Week, Oct. 7-11.
On Sept. 27, HWS Votes, in partnership with the League of Women Voters Geneva, will host a screening of “John Lewis: Good Trouble” at 7 p.m. at the Smith Opera House. The documentary celebrates the life of civil rights activist John Lewis, who visited the HWS campus in 2007 to deliver the Convocation Address. A panel on voting rights and voting impact will be held after the screening. The event is free and open to the community.
“We’re trying to have students know that we’re here and that they can come to us with any questions,” says Goncalves.
In the classroom, students in POL 221 – Voting and Elections with Associate Professor of Politics DeWayne Lucas and HWS President Mark D. Gearan will be developing plans to engage peers in voting this semester. Students in the course are examining trends in the relationship between voting patterns and electoral outcomes, exploring theories to explain the voting habits of the American electorate, and investigating strategies and tactics used by candidates to garner those votes.
HWS Votes is working to increase the campus voting rate to 80%, which recently dipped. The voting rate at HWS was nearly 75% in 2020 but declined to under 25% in 2022, according to data from the Institute for Democracy Higher Education: National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement from Tufts University.
HWS Votes is a non-partisan group of student leaders devoted to voter registration and the continuous education of the Hobart and William Smith and Geneva communities. The organization instills a sense of civic duty in all citizens through active participation in the democratic process.
More information can be found on the HWS Votes website or on their Instagram account hwsvotes.
Top: Students watch the presidential debate in the Vandervort Room, hosted by HWS Votes.
