Adelphi Students Are Registered and Ready to Vote

Election Day is next week and early voting is already underway for New York state voters. With the convenience of early voting and Adelphi not holding classes on Election Day, Adelphi students are primed to participate in the voting process.

Sophomore Brianah Bussey said she is registered to vote because, “It allows me to get my voice heard, to see the changes I want in the country.”

In September, Tufts University’s Institute for Democracy and Higher Education released its biannual “National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement,” the only national study of college-student voting. It is based on the voting records of more than 10 million students at more than 1,000 colleges and universities in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

The results revealed that voting rates among all students surveyed surged in the 2018 midterm elections. The results at Adelphi were even more dramatic.

• Nearly 41 percent of Adelphi’s eligible students voted in 2018. This represents a 25 percentage point increase from 2014.

• Adelphi’s voting rate outpaced the national rate by 1.4 percentage points.

• More than half (51.5 percent) of Adelphi’s registered student voters voted in the 2018 election.

• More than one-third (33.8 percent) of Adelphi’s students aged 18–21 voted in the last election—a 23 point increase over 2014.

President Christine M. Riordan said, “This is terrific data that shows how engaged our students are in civics and community.”

Kathleen Watchorn, coordinator of projects and programs in the Division of Student Affairs, attributes this increase to the efforts of Adelphi Votes, a nonpartisan coalition of students, faculty and staff that assists students and staff with voter registration and absentee ballot applications. She also serves as coordinator of Adelphi Votes.

Watchorn said she expects a higher increase of students registering to vote in 2019. Students are concerned about social issues, climate change and the economy.

Adelphi Votes gave class presentations and held voter registration drives on campus and on Constitution Day and at author Tara Westover, PhD’s lecture Educated: A Memoir, held on National Voter Registration Day.

Watchorn said that nearly 200 New York state registrations were completed as well as registrations for out-of-state students from states as far away as Utah and Hawaii.

Adelphi Votes has had assistance from the Student Government Association, the League of Women Voters, Graduate Student Council, and first-year students enrolled in the First Year Seminar: Compassionate Citizenship.