As students and staff passed the tables in the University of the District of Columbia’s Heritage Hall on Tuesday morning, Staci Hartwell called out “Are you registered to vote?”
Hartwell, a board member of the Maryland League of Conservation Voters, sat at a table set up by The Links, Incorporated, a Black and female-led volunteer service organization.
It wasn’t the first time she attended a voter-registration drive at an historically Black college or university. Hartwell said she was on another HBCU campus last week and was encouraged by the enthusiasm she’s seen among younger voters, who are often seen as disengaged and apathetic when it comes to the electoral process.
“I want you to know that, as an older person, it was so exciting to see them excited to vote,” Hartwell told WTOP.
“These voter registration drives are very popular,” she said, adding that at the last one she attended, 400 students signed up to vote.
Tiona Hordge, a psychology major at UDC, was on her way to class, but made sure to take some time to volunteer, putting up signs that directed students to the voter registration tables.
Hordge said she knows some students don’t think that their votes truly carry weight, but she wants to counter that notion.
“Their vote does count! Every person has a voice, every person should utilize their opportunity to vote because people fought hard to vote,” she said.
At another table, UDC senior Jaeron Nichols told WTOP he enjoys getting students involved in civics and teach them “why it’s important and why we need voting in our lives and how it helps our community.”
Nicholas Kenner, another student, sat down with Hartwell to make sure he was registered.
“I think voting is important, so I should contribute to society and I feel it’s my duty,” he said.
But, he said, he hadn’t checked to see if he was properly registered — until Tuesday: “One of my friends was like, ‘Are you registered?’ And I was like, ‘I don’t think so.'”
Students at UDC’s David A. Clarke School of Law took part in the drive as part of National Voter Registration Day on Tuesday. The university is also planning a watch party for the vice-presidential debate on Oct. 1 and an election night watch party on Nov. 5.
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