Voting | Arden Reimer | The Wright State Guardian
With mid term elections on the horizon, Wright State University student organizations partake in community event to assist students with voter registration.
“Dayton Youth Votes”
On Sept. 17, 2022, the Ohio Student Association and Campus Vote Project united community organizers, students, performers and vendors for a time of fellowship and voter registration at Fairborn Community Park. Kalesha Scott, a student organizer for OSA, arranged the event and worked with students, vendors and performers from across Ohio.
Scott partners with WSU, Central State University, Wilberforce University and the University of Dayton, facilitating voter registration events on campuses. With this event, Scott wanted to bring the colleges together in a unified effort.
“I thought it would be really cool to have all those students come together, and it’s mostly black-led organizations that I’ve been working with,” Scott said.
Wright State organizations reach out
Working more closely with student organizations at WSU, such as Black Men on the Move and the Black Student Union, was one byproduct of that initial vision. According to Scott, BMOTM President Joshua Johnson wanted to create a larger platform for WSU students to register to vote.
“The whole purpose of being here is to get people registered to vote,” Johnson said. “We want to make sure that everybody has a voice.”
According to Johnson, voting is a pivotal act that students and community members should be aware of. The president hopes to see events like this grow in the future. President of BSU Gary Neal feels similarly about the importance of encouraging students to register to vote.
Neal explained a tentative plan for an education panel in the Dayton region, which ultimately did not occur; regardless, BSU still wanted to spread voter awareness.
“We still wanted to make sure we were spreading political awareness and making sure that people were registered to vote. We wanted to partner with this, come and volunteer and help out as much as we could,” Neal said.
For more information on voting and a midterm election voter guide, read here.
