With midterm elections approaching, clubs and organizations across ASU are boosting efforts on each campus to educate and register students to vote.
Midterm elections give voters a direct role in determining which political party holds the majority in the Senate and House of Representatives, which can shift the balance of power in Congress and their state legislature.
Undergraduate Student Government Downtown serves as a bridge between students and government, voicing student concerns to administration and ensuring they are supported on the Downtown Phoenix campus.
Naomi Inegbenedion, vice president of policy for USGD and a senior studying health care administration and policy, said the student government held voter registration tabling events, providing students with resources to register.
She said many ASU students are international or from out of state, and USGD informed those students about how to become civically involved in Arizona, even if they are not able to vote in the upcoming midterm election.
"Ensuring our voices are heard in those government entities truly is very important," Inegbenedion said. "We're all very young. Some of us are not working in those government entities, but ensuring that we're voting ensures that our representation and our voice is heard at those tables."
Alongside USGD, community partners including the Citizens Clean Elections Commision and the Arizona Students’ Association also conducted voter registration activities on campus, Montserrat Arredondo Duran, executive director of the ASU Pastor Center for Politics and Public Service, said.
She said campus groups such as ASU’s Civic Engagement Coalition pushed to make voting more accessible for students and nearby residents by bringing polling places to campus.
On-campus voting centers are located on the Tempe, Downtown Phoenix, Polytechnic and West campuses, and are official polling places hosted by the Maricopa County Recorder’s office.
Additionally, the Pastor Center for Politics and Public Service offers TurboVote, where students can register to vote online.
Arredondo Duran urges students to register to vote because government decisions outside the University still affect their daily lives.
"It's a misconception that all the decisions, how money is spent, how much tuition you are charged as a student, happens just through President Crow," Arredondo Duran said. "There is a lot of say to your daily experience as a student that is beyond just the ASU bubble."
Voting is just the first step, and through social media, students are more able than ever to pay attention to politics and hold elected officials accountable on the platforms they campaigned on, she said.
"You have the ability to help to decide who those folks are and if they stand with the values that you care about and the things that you care about," Arredondo Duran said.
Civic engagement clubs on campus, including ASU Changemaker, College Republicans at ASU and ASU Young Democrats, actively seek new members and register new voters during election season.
Nonpartisan clubs like El Concilio at ASU, Arizona State NAACP and others also host various voter registration tables and events around campus.
ASU Young Democrats hosts weekly tabling events on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Their past efforts have also included a voter registration booth with U.S. Rep. Yassamin Ansari and voter registration training.
Nicolas Yendrzeski, vice president of College Republicans at ASU and a junior studying political science and philosophy, said College Republicans at ASU focuses on recruiting new members through campus outreach, providing them with resources to register under the Republican Party.
College Republicans at ASU offers its members the opportunity to participate in conservative political campaigns. These opportunities allow members to build their political resumes through voter outreach, door-knocking, signature collecting and campaign strategy.
Yendrzeski said it's important that the club helps its members become educated and active in politics because students are the future workers and leaders of America.
As Election Day approaches, ASU services and student-run organizations continue working to empower young voters to make their voices heard in the polls.
"Power is derived from the people, and the people are the ones that are driving decisions. They're going to the polls. They're the ones voting," Yendrzeski said. "So, it's important that they get involved so that their voices are heard, and they can make that difference, make that impact in their community."
Edited by Dhemi Bell, Emilio Alvarado and Sophia Keeling.
Reach the reporter at akbrow36@asu.edu.
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Alyssa Brown is a Community/Culture Reporter at The State Press. This is her first semester with The State Press.
