By Leslie Moonshine, AADC Voter Registration Team Member
The two Voter Registration teams visiting Sierra College have just completed another successful school year of student engagement. We registered over 130 new voters and tallied more than 26 weeks of campus visits. (Most of the registrations occurred prior to the 2022 midterms.) We also gave out dozens of cards with a QR code to the Secretary of State website for students to check their registration status at their leisure.
Through our weekly surveys, we engaged with students on many topics, including climate change, abortion access, the war in Ukraine, gun violence, LGBTQIA+ rights, book banning, court cases involving abortion drugs, Donald Trump’s legal peril, and more. (Our favorite moments were when students interacted with one another over the survey questions!) Additionally, we conducted an “Issues Poll” at least once per semester to see which issues most concerned students. The results consistently showed students’ main concerns to be climate change, abortion access, and worry about their economic future.
We also participated in special campus events, including both the Women, Life, Freedom Rally and also Earth Day. We followed up the Women, Life Freedom march with an information board explaining the situation in Iran surrounding the death of Mahsa Amini. We then expanded on the “information board” model. In addressing the pending court decisions on access to medical abortions, we provided important background information on the drug, mifepristone. For Earth Day, we provided information on local organizations and protests that students could join to engage in climate action. And before finals week on campus, we held a “Fentanyl Awareness Day” in an effort to support the Placer County “One Pill Can Kill” campaign. We provided local, state, and national statistics on Fentanyl deaths, as well as symptoms of an overdose and what to do if one encounters someone overdosing, giving information about and access to sources for Narcan.
During the course of the year, between 40 and more than 200 individuals participated in our surveys per week. Students stopped by to take the survey, chat about their classes and lives, and grab a snack. (Candy and mandarins/cuties were popular choices all year!) Our interactions with Sierra College students revealed several key points we’d like to share: (1) Most students do not want to be affiliated with a particular political party. The vast majority register as NPP – No Party Preference; (2) Repeated polls indicate that students rely heavily (and for many, exclusively) on social media for their news; (3) Gun violence in our nation remains a deeply divided issue; each time we circled back to this topic following the news of another mass shooting, it sparked the most vehement and animated discussions
The Tuesday team consisted of Mark Havener and Noelle Felice-Smith. The Wednesday team included Gail Bartlow, Sandy Floyd, Rebecca Campbell, and Leslie Moonshine. On many occasions we were joined by fellow AADC members as well as volunteers from other local Democratic organizations. Working together, we forged new friendships and presented a united front to promote democratic values and policies. Through fun and engaging interactions with students, both teams registered new voters, provided knowledge and awareness of current topics, and reminded students of the stakes involved and why voting is important!
On a very positive final note, we have learned that Sierra College will host a “voting center” on campus for the 2024 election, making it easier and more accessible for students from Placer County to vote!
