The University of Mary Washington’s Independent Student Newspaper Serving the community since 1922
The
Weekly
Ringer
VOLUME 98 | ISSUE 9
November 8, 2024
UMW Votes encourage civic engagement on Election Day
Students ride to the Dorothy Hart Community Center, the designated polling place for Mary Washington students, on the trolleys provided for Election Day. From 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Nov. 5, UMW Votes arranged for free food, prizes, pictures and rides to the polls to encourage civic engagement. Abbey Magnet / The Weekly Ringer
ALANAH MULLER Staff Writer This year, during arguably the most contentious presidential election in recent memory, UMW Votes worked to engage students as they take part in their civic duty. UMW Votes is a nonpartisan student-led organization on campus that provides free trolley rides to the polls and other incentives like donuts, pizza, t-shirts and stickers to students registering and turning out to vote.
“We are the leaders of tomorrow and we deserve to have a say in what our future looks like. No matter who you vote for, your voice matters.” - Tonia Attie “I love being a part of UMW Votes because it is a wonderful group of amazing people all working for the common goal of getting our peers out to vote,” said Sarah Tyree-Hermann, a sophomore political science and women’s, gender, and sexuality studies double major. “I truly love that we are nonpartisan and that our mission is not
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one that is divisive, but instead is inclusive and works to bring people together through the common pride of being a voter, especially a youth voter.” This is junior political science and philosophy double major Tonia Attie’s third year working with UMW Votes and she is excited about student turnout for the 2024 general election. “Students have been showing up and it’s incredible to see,” she said. “We are the leaders of tomorrow and we deserve to have a say in what our future looks like. No matter who you vote for, your voice matters.” UMW Votes has been hosting various events this fall semester to help students get registered and prepared for election day on Nov. 5. These events are held to make registering and voting a less complicated process for students who may be participating in their first election. “I am feeling optimistic actually, the voter turnout is looking good,” said Jasmine Rivas, a senior psychology major and UMW Votes volunteer. UMW’s Working on Democracy first-year seminars also put together events for election day. “The hard work that was put into planning the day this year seriously paid off, especially with the FSEM,” said Chiara Baez, a junior historic preservation and political
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science double major. “The students are all really passionate about civic engagement and Election Day, regardless of if they came into class with an interest or not.” The FSEM class helped plan events such as the watch party on election night, as well as the lawn games and the pep band. “Their planning of the watch party was super helpful,” said Baez. “So many people, staff and students, loved the lawn games and especially the pep band. All of that planning effort is credited to the FSEM, including their innovative merch.” Other groups out for Election Day include the UMW chapter of the NAACP, the UMW Latino Student Association, the UMW Student Government Association and NextGen, a youth voting organization. Civic engagement is one pillar of life at Mary Washington, with UMW Votes recently winning the gold status from the All in Campus Democracy Challenge. According to UMW Voice, this was due to its 79% student turnout in the 2020 presidential election and 43% turnout in the 2022 midterm elections. “Today was super successful, we’re at 288 students who voted today with UMWvotes on the trolley with an hour left at the polls,” Baez said.
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