Nawaal Nackerdien/ Fourth Estate
Organization encourages Mason students to register to vote in the 2024 presidential election
BY MARY DEMARCO, OPINION EDITOR
Over the past few weeks, purple pop-up tables occupied by women with matching purple shirts have appeared throughout campus during the height of the election season.
These women are a part of a non-profit group called the League of Women Voters (LWV), a non-partisan organization consisting of more than one million American women who aim to educate and aid voters.
For the 2024 election season, LWV aimed to register as many Mason students to vote as possible. From Wilkins plaza to random booths throughout campus, members of LWV have provided voting information and voter registration paperwork to students.
Founded in response to the 19th amendment, the league was created to inform women on the voting process and their rights as American citizens. While the right to vote is no longer questioned, LWV continues to identify populations that are underrepresented in casting their ballots.
“One of the populations [of people who struggle to vote] is college students,” Arina van Breda, Fairfax area LWV Director of Voter Registration, said. “Which is one of the reasons that I’ve been very active on campus at Mason.”
Van Breda mentioned that undergrad college students struggle to make it to the polls due to the unclear guidelines on where and how to vote.
“We know that most people going off to college are often going to be first time voters,” van Breda said. “[They] have a lot of decisions to make about voting; simple things like, do you vote using your parents address as your home address or do you vote using your campus address as your home address? If you’re going to use your parents address, how are you going to get to vote there if you’re living on campus?”
Mason students have proven to be proactive when it comes to voting. In the 2020 presidential election, Mason students had a 77.8% voting rate according to the National Study of Learning, Voting and Engagement.
However, this study does not account for Virginia general elections. Zach Lincoln, a student of Mason Schar School of Policy and Government, has observed that outside of presidential elections, his peers do not get involved in politics.
“Politics isn’t something you think about until right when we’re about to have a [presidential] election,” Lincoln said.
Van Breda also emphasized that showing up to vote is not just for presidential elections but for local government elections as well. She says that voting for all levels of government is important for citizens to have their interests and needs reflected.
“It’s the wrong approach to say ‘my vote doesn’t matter’ because… it can completely change the short-term course of Virginia politics,” van Breda said. “I always say to young people, the reason you feel the government doesn’t reflect your interests or doesn’t reflect your age cohort is because you’re not voting in the same percentage that older people are.”
Mason students have the opportunity to register to vote in Virginia using their current residence hall’s physical building address. Additionally, students may use same-day registration and vote at Merten Hall using a provisional ballot. The Merten Hall poll is opened until 7 p.m. and students may use their Mason ID.
For more information on voting as a Mason student, visit Mason Votes.
