St. Thomas students and staff discuss their voting experiences. The Luann Dummer Center for Women partnered with the Civic Engagement, Voter Education & Advocacy task force to talk about voting rights on Sept. 19. (David Huynh/The Crest) 
A table had information on how to register to vote and vote from out of state. (David Huynh/The Crest) 
English associate professor and Women’s Center director Liz Wilkinson handed out sweet treats to students. (David Huynh/The Crest) 
Attendees were invited to write down their voting experiences and tape it up on the wall. (David Huynh/The Crest)
The St. Thomas Luann Dummer Center for Women hosted its annual kickoff event with chocolate, pie and voter registration on Sept. 19.
The center partnered with the Civic Engagement, Voter Education & Advocacy task force to bring attention to the past and present of voting rights. At the event, a table was set up with resources for registering to vote with a representative from the task force present to help students find their registration status and register in state and out of state.
“Voter registration, especially this election, is so important,” said Liz Wilkinson, associate professor of English and director of the women’s center. “People need to make sure they’re registered and sometimes it’s hard to figure out how to do that when you’re new on campus.”
A study from Pew Research Center published in 2023 on voter turnout from 2018-2022 found that in 2018, only 11% of 18-29-year-old voters participated in the election. By 2022, that number went down to 10%. The youngest voting demographic, including many college students, has statistically been the least likely to vote.
CEVEA’s mission statement says it aims to “promote campus-wide civic engagement, voter education & advocacy efforts.” For many college students, this is the first presidential election they will be voting in.
This is not the only event on campus that has been promoting and helping students register to vote. The task force is also partnering with other departments around campus leading up to the election.
Wilkinson said that every time CEVEA partners with other entities on campus, they get the word out to more audiences of people about voting and amplify it.
“The reason behind having a kickoff and partnering is so that more people start to know that the center is here, and we can talk about what the Center has to offer for the UST community,” Wilkinson said.
The Luann Dummer Center for Women room was covered in informational postcards of historical figures who helped women gain the right to vote. In the center of it all, was a wall with two prompts: “I remember my first time voting…” and “I vote because…” that invited attendees to write down their voting experiences and tape it up on the wall.
Junior Jolee Karnz is a co-facilitator of the Feminist Community organization on campus who participated in the writing prompts.
“I wrote that I vote because I want to have an impact on my community, and I want to be able to have control over my own life,” Karnz said.
Many of the responses shared the sentiment of voting to honor democratic duty and having a say in one’s own rights.
Junior Grace Murray, another attendee of the event, said that she votes because of all the people who fought for women’s rights to vote. She thinks others should do the same.
Another point of the event was to recognize the 100th anniversary of the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924.
Wilkinson talked about how even though many people think that this was when Indigenous people got the right to vote, it actually did not allow all Native people to vote. She addressed the importance of remembering that not every state allowed Indigenous people to vote in U.S. elections.
“That’s one of the reasons I’m wearing these earrings, they’re given to me by a really special Cherokee elder, and so it’s my little nod,” Wilkinson said.
As the buzz of people discussing their stories of voting and current events through the open house, the sense of community was clear.
“I just love all the events that they have here,” Karnz said, “And to have a safe space for people to come and go, sign up for voting and just connect with a lot of people on campus.”
Elaina Mankowski can be reached at mank2823@stthomas.edu.