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by GINA LOGUE
CAMPUS COMMUNITY
In observance of National Voter Registration Week, MTSU will raise civic awareness with signs, information and registration tables throughout the week.
• Beginning Monday, Sept. 27, the American Democracy Project for Civic Learning at MTSU will post voter registration signage across campus encouraging students, faculty, staff, alumni and visitors to register at www.mtsu.edu/vote.
Dr. Mary A. Evins
“Watch throughout National Voter Registration Week for the QR codes to register online and another QR code to check your registration if you’re already registered in Tennessee but want to re-register in Rutherford County or wherever you currently live,” advised Dr. Mary Evins, research history professor and MTSU’s ADP coordinator.
• On National Voter Registration Day, Tuesday, Sept. 28, ADP will have tents and tables on the Peck Hall lawn and the Paul W. Martin Sr. Honors Building lawn from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. for in-person registration with laptop computers and paper forms.
The Murfreesboro/Rutherford County League of Women Voters is co-sponsoring the Honors lawn event. The American Association of University Women/Murfreesboro is co-sponsoring the Peck lawn registration location.
Antonio Dodson
• Before MTSU’s football game Saturday, Oct. 2, with Marshall University at Floyd Stadium, the MTSU Voter Registration Tailgate will give voters another opportunity to register or update their information from 3 to 6 p.m. at Walnut Grove outside Peck Hall.
“Elections for local and statewide office are happening in 2022, and those offices make decisions about things that affect your life every day, like schools, transportation, health care and taxes,” MTSU Student Government Association Philanthropic Coordinator Antonio Dodson wrote in a recent email to students.
The SGA will host the registration tailgate in cooperation with the Tennessee Secretary of State’s office and the Rutherford County Election Commission. Election experts will be at the tailgate to answer any questions.
“The U.S. Constitution ensures your right to vote and in turn engaging in the process of determining those who will represent you,” said Danny Kelley, assistant vice president for student affairs.
“The voting process begins by registering to vote, so students are highly encouraged to join the Student Government Association and get registered if you have not done so already.”
Dr. Danny Kelley
Tre Hargett
MTSU is among the state’s nine Division I public universities participating in the tailgate registrations, which kicked off Sept. 11 at three universities.
“Like most Tennesseans, we love college football and the excitement of game day,” said Secretary of State Tre Hargett.
“These Voter Registration Tailgates are the perfect opportunity for us to show students and fans how easy it is to register to vote in Tennessee so that they can get in the game and make their voice heard on election day.”
• Conference USA, the Blue Raiders’ league for intercollegiate athletics, is participating in the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge to encourage voter registration among its member schools.
Institutions win awards for establishing campuswide voter coalitions, creating campus action plans and participating in the National Study of Learning, Voting and Engagement. MTSU won a silver award in 2018. Awards for 2020 will be presented later this fall, and more awards will be announced after the 2022 interim elections.
The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, a nonpartisan, independent research organization, reports that the largest increases in youth participation in the South between 2016 and 2020 were in Tennessee and Georgia, each with a 14% increase.
MTSU has been designated as a “Voter Friendly Campus” by the Fair Elections Center’s Campus Vote Project and the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators’ LEAD Initiative on Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement’s national Voter Friendly Campus program.
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