I had an interesting two days this week when I urged students at the University where I work to take a moment to publicly share how they plan to be involved in preserving their civil liberties this year. The event was designed to convey the expectation of personal civic responsibility and more.With so much at stake in our nation and the world, we have arrived at a place where sitting on the sidelines is not a good option for people who care about the direction we are headed. Whether you care about gun violence, the environment, healthcare, poverty, education, criminal justice, immigration, nuclear proliferation, or the integrity of the presidency, the loudest citizens living today will ultimately steer lawmakers towards crucial decisions on each of these concerns and their actions or inaction will affect the future of our nation and the world.
This isn’t the time to be a passive spectator and I wanted to make sure students on my campus realized this and that they were encouraged by their peers who also realized this fact. The students who stopped at the table to fill in their personal liberty bell poster to display on the big wall, were planning to vote at the very least if they were eligible to vote. However, planning to vote and being prepared to vote are two different things. This is especially true for college students who have moved away from home or who just turned 18.
For example, a common occurrence was the student who indicated that he was registered to vote and planned to vote but then also indicated that his hometown was Denver, Colorado. My question to a student like this was whether he was set up to vote by absentee ballot or if he was flying to Denver to vote in November? Nine times out of ten the answer was, “Oh, no.” I would give the student a little card with directions to re-register online to vote locally.
Beyond voting, students could also indicate whether they were planning to protest, talk to others, or contact lawmakers. A few staff members who stopped at the table wrote in “canvass” on their poster as something they plan to do or are doing. I hope that inspired a few more students.
The good news is that most of the students who are eligible to vote, say that they plan to vote and those who were not yet registered, gladly took the card to get registered. I was happy to see that a lot of them also planned to talk to others as their civic engagement. Fewer were planning to contact lawmakers, and even fewer, as expected, were planning to protest. But a significant number were planning to do everything on the list! It was interesting to see friends fill out their forms together when one was only planning to vote and the other was planning to do everything on the list. The conversation between them began there.
The point is that we can and must all do our part to preserve our civil liberties. My hope is that more of us will contact our lawmakers. I know I emailed Senator Grassley, Senator Harris, and Senate Majority Leader McConnell several times about the need for transparency and an FBI investigation regarding Supreme Court nominee, Kavanaugh. If Kavanaugh makes it onto the court, I hope there will be protests as there should be–I may be there. And I hope that people will talk to family and friends to ensure that they are informed about issues of concern. But most of all, I hope everyone who is eligible will vote this November. In California, you can register online at
https://registertovote.ca.gov/
Good Motivation for first time voters. A phrase I think about often: “I’m no longer accepting things I can’t change! I’m changing things I can’t accept!” Male friends are asking questions about what scares or upsets a girl in terms of dating or co-worker behaviors. They are talking to their daughters about using their voice on the ballot. There is hope in the fresh, young POV. A good thing.