By Leslie Moonshine
The Voter Registration team members have completed another successful year at Sierra College. We registered 63 new voters during the spring semester, bringing our total for the school year to 179! We celebrate our new voters, but also the many opportunities we’ve had to engage with young people on various matters of civic importance. Our surveys have allowed us to get a beat on students’ concerns, to become familiar with their stands on issues, and to check in with them on their general well-being. We have learned which news sources they trust or distrust and where they go for news. We’ve also had the opportunity to dispel some common myths and misinformation on key topics. And we’ve continually promoted our candidates, Jessica Morse for Congress and Neva Parker for Assembly.
Most importantly, our time on campus has provided an entryway into meaningful discussion with young voters. Many “regulars” stopped by weekly to chat — both like-minded folks, who generally share our Democratic views, but also staunch supporters of the Republican agenda. With some of these latter visitors, we’ve seen a gradual shift, a willingness at least to consider new ideas and opinions. But even if we have not changed anyone’s view, the time around our table serves another purpose: we model the merits of civic discourse and friendly debate. For these young people who have come of age in such divisive and hyper-political times, we consider this modeling an important part of what we do! We admire the students’ passion, no matter their opinion, but we also challenge them to check sources and provide proof for many of the claims and statements they make. As always, our favorite moments are when we see students engaging in lively debate with each other, spurred by our survey topics.
Our teams are now well-oiled machines. Tuesday surveys netted about 30-35 responses each. The alternating Tuesday teams, headed up by Mark Havener and by Robert Sherriff and Noelle Filice-Smith, covered topics such as “Crime and Punishment” (for Donald Trump), and “Where Do you Typically Get your News?” A few students believed that even if guilty of Election Interference for the events of January 6, DJT should not be disqualified from the presidency! TikTok, Instagram, and You Tube were students’ top sources for online news. An additional Tuesday survey helped students understand the realities of plastic recycling. (Did you know that plastic water bottles take from 450 – 1000 years to decompose?)
Campus is generally busier on Wednesdays, with 50-70 students participating in the surveys. The Wednesday team, led by Gail Bartlow, with regulars Sandy Floyd, Leslie Moonshine, and Rebecca Campbell, conducted a survey on current court cases, asking students how they would rule. Ten students would have granted Trump FULL immunity and 13 would have found him innocent of the felony charges in his NY trial! Mid-May was Fentanyl Awareness Week, so once again, we provided life-saving information including symptoms of overdose, what to do for someone having an overdose, and how to access naloxone on campus or in the community. For our last day on campus, we experimented with a new technique rather than a survey. (Let’s just say the idea clearly needs some refining!)
Both Tuesday and Wednesday teams were often joined by other community members who volunteered through Mobilize or other Dem organizations. One such regular volunteer, Ann, conducted her own student questionnaire for her master’s degree research project. Hopefully Ann will present the results of her research at a future AADC meeting.)
In addition to our usual Tuesday and Wednesday visits to campus, we were also on campus for Sierra College’s Earth Day celebration on Thursday, April 25th. Under the direction of former science teacher, Robert Sherriff, we had a hands-on activity to make bee-friendly “seed balls.” Visitors to our booth could help create pollinator-friendly habitats in their own yards. Our survey touted President Biden’svironmental a enccomplishments, including rejoining the Paris Climate Accord, investing in green jobs, and passing the strongest-ever EPA rule on car emissions. (Surprisingly, students felt that investing in public transportation had the greatest impact.) Both Jessica Morse and Neva Parker joined us for part of the day and had the opportunity to engage in deep discussion with many of the students we see on a regular basis.
On Saturday, April 27th, we repeated our Sierra College Earth Day booth and activities (survey and seed ball making) for Auburn’s own Earth Day. Auburn’s Earth Day was sponsored by Hip Hop Congress. While we did not see a lot of foot traffic where our booth was located, we were able to register 5 young people to vote, bringing our GRAND TOTAL for the year to 179!
While our school year at Sierra is complete, we will continue our voter outreach efforts in other venues, including the Pride Day festivities in Roseville on Saturday, May 18.