Last Monday, Shippensburg University became one of 83 campuses in 23 states to be named a “voter friendly campus” as part of a series of voter education initiatives led by the Campus Vote Project (CVP) and Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education (NASPA), according to a news release issued by SU professor and Ship Votes adviser Catherine Clay.
Ship Votes, SU’s voter education group, has previously held on-campus events such as Democracy Day, and has also sponsored lectures by alumni and rides to polling places on Election Day.
“Even if you do not want to vote every year, you probably should,” Clay said.
It has been difficult in recent years to recruit students to run, or even participate, in Ship Votes, she said.
“I was worried if I took a breath and walked away it would vanish,” Clay said of her worries of Ship Votes’ future without her leadership. “It kind of depends on if there’s support and people are interested or not, even though we want people to always be interested.”
During the spring semester of 2016, Clay began to compile Ship Votes’ general information and accomplishments to submit to the Campus Elect Engagement Project (CEEP) and by July she submitted Ship Votes’ plans for the fall 2017 semester as well as an outline of the group’s three goals for the 2017–18 academic year.
Despite a lack of student participation, Clay said in her CEEP report that Ship Votes has seen a “greater commitment to student citizenship among faculty, staff and administrators.”
In particular, Clay cited the office of social equity’s director, Stephanie Erdice, and Ship Votes’ paid intern, Thomas Fisher, as major contributors toward the group’s success.
“I’m worried about voter access in this new administration, to be honest,” Clay said. “Students have the right to have their votes be heard.”
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