New Platform Helps Fisher Students Register to Vote

According to the Campus Vote Project, “young adults (ages 18-29) made up about 21 percent of the voting eligible population in 2014, but voter turnout for this demographic has reached record lows in recent years.”

At St. John Fisher College, students, faculty, and staff are teaming up to increase the number of college students registered to vote. The Offices of Student Engagement and Inclusion, Multicultural Affairs, and Residential Life invested in a partnership with TurboVote to launch Fisher Votes, a website where Fisher students can log on and easily register to vote, change their address, request an absentee ballot, or sign up for election reminders.

On Tuesday, Sept. 22, which was National Voter Registration Day, more than 50 Fisher students used the platform. That’s a number Amanda Metzger, director of student engagement and inclusion, hopes to see rise over the next two weeks.

“Voting is one of the first steps to civic participation that students can take,” said Metzger. “By partnering with TurboVote, our goal is to provide students with a clear and easy to understand way to not only register to vote, but also request an absentee ballot and be engaged with the voting process.”

Metzger said this is the first of a series of activities aimed at boosting voter registration on campus leading up to the Friday, Oct. 9 deadline. Then, the team will turn their attention to offering educational programming about the electoral process and talks that offer a nonpartisan look at the issues and policies at the center of the 2020 election cycle.