Mason Votes

Sen. Warner visits Democrats at Mason

Colleen Rich — Mon, 03 Oct 2022 19:36:38 +0000

Sen. Warner visits Democrats at Mason Colleen Rich Mon, 10/03/2022 - 15:36

Photo by DeRon Rockingham/Creative Services

U.S. Senator Mark Warner spoke with about 50 students Friday, Sept. 30, on ��ӽ紫ý’s Fairfax Campus at an event hosted by the student group Democrats at Mason. Warner is the chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and serves on the Committee on Finance; Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs; the Committee on the Budget; and the Committee on Rules and Administration.

The senator talked about infrastructure funding, including $20 million for a bicycle–pedestrian bridge across the Potomac River from Arlington to Washington, D.C., and the war in Ukraine, and he took questions from the audience, including ones about the polarization present in national politics.

He encouraged students to vote and to be politically active.

“Our democracy, for all its flaws, is worth fighting for,” Warner told the group.

Mason’s proximity to Washington, D.C., provides many opportunities for students to meet policymakers and engage with them on critical issues.

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When it comes to voting, Mason students are ahead of the curve

Colleen Rich — Mon, 01 Nov 2021 20:25:18 +0000

When it comes to voting, Mason students are ahead of the curve Colleen Rich Mon, 11/01/2021 - 16:25

Activity outside the Fairfax Campus polling place in 2018. Photo by Lathan Goumas/Strategic Communications

��ӽ紫ý students voted at a higher rate than the national student average in the 2020 elections, and also outperformed the average voting rates of public institutions, according to the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement by the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life at Tufts University.

According to the survey, Mason students voted at a rate of 71.8% in 2020. The national rate for all institutions was 66%. The rate for public institutions was 69%.

The report comes after Mason was listed as a “best college for student voting” by Washington Monthly.

Those outcomes are the result of several factors, said Rose Pascarell, vice president for University Life at Mason, including Mason’s proximity to Washington, D.C, having a polling place on the Fairfax Campus, and a campus-wide sensibility for voter participation that the university actively cultivates.

“Our students are more engaged and more understanding of the role they play in the trajectory of the country, that their role in voting makes a difference,” Pascarell said. “One of the things we do is encourage students to see themselves as change-makers. That happens in a number of different ways—through voting, through protesting, through course-taking, through research.”

It also happens with the help of the Mason Votes program, Pascarell said, which encourages students to register and vote, helps educate students about key issues, helps brings candidates to campus, and conducts exit polling to examine opinions on the issues.

It doesn’t hurt that Mason’s Fairfax Campus is only 20 miles from Washington, D.C., said master’s student Meg Thornberry.

“Especially since a lot of Mason students are originally from the area,” said Thornberry, who is studying public health and is a member of the Mason Votes editorial board. “People just grow up with and see firsthand the process and are aware of it in a way that makes it a no-brainer to take part.”

Additionally, “We have a lot of students who come to the D.C. area because they want to get involved civically, or they want to get involved with the federal government or politics or international relations,” said Alissa Karton, assistant to the vice president and director of special projects at University Life. “That is definitely part of it.”

Some of the numbers in the study were fascinating.

Early voting at Mason increased 31 points to 32% in 2020 compared to 2016. “Not-in-person” voting rose by 20 points to 34%, with the pandemic certainly playing a role.

Voting by the 18-21 age group was at 69 percent, compared to 60 percent in 2016; the nine-point increase was the largest of any age group at the university. First- and second-year student voting rates increased nine points to 63% and 66%, respectively. Undergraduate voting rates increased from 60% to 67%.

Those results are important, the study said, because “voting is habit-forming, and young voters will usually continue as voters in subsequent elections.”

“Our proximity to D.C. is absolutely a contributing factor,” Pascarell said of Mason’s high voting turnout. “But it’s also true we try to leverage those opportunities so that students have a number of ways they can participate in what’s happening and to make their voices heard.”

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Vice President Kamala Harris encourages Mason students to get out the vote

Mariam Aburdeineh — Wed, 29 Sep 2021 18:02:22 +0000

Vice President Kamala Harris encourages Mason students to get out the vote Mariam Aburdeineh Wed, 09/29/2021 - 14:02

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris visited ��ӽ紫ý’s Fairfax Campus on Tuesday to speak to students on the importance of voting, in commemoration of National Voter Registration Day.

Before appearing to hundreds of students gathered on Wilkins Plaza, the vice president spoke to Assistant Professor Samuel Frye’s integrative studies class, “Community, Culture and Change,” as a surprise guest speaker.

“I wanted to come and talk with you because you are the leaders of today and tomorrow,” Harris said. “In the tradition of ��ӽ紫ý, and the leadership of students at this particular university, I am a strong believer that the most important progress that our country has made has been a function of movements, and almost every one of those movements were fueled by students.”

Harris, who was welcomed by Provost Mark Ginsberg and answered student questions following her talk, also spoke on the power of community engagement, and on protecting voting rights for all citizens.

“Some of our greatest movements [as a nation] have been built not only by community, but about a way of doing policy work and organizing that is called coalition-building, knowing that the vast majority of us have so much more in common than what separates us,” Harris said.

“One of the biggest takeaways I had from today was how [Harris] emphasized our strength in numbers,” said Sydney Howard, a junior studying social justice and human rights. “It can be discouraging to think [if] our vote matters individually, but she touched on the power we have when we stick together and the policies that we’ve already brought into fruition.”

Harris emphasized that the goal of American democracy should be unity, not uniformity, where all voices can be heard and disagreements on the issues can be explored with healthy debates.

“Your vote is an expression of your voice, and we should never support anything that would stifle somebody’s voice or take their power,” Harris said, making the case that Congress should pass the Freedom to Vote Act and John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.

The vice president also mentioned how Mason’s efforts in registering students to vote in 2020, and subsequent polling turnout, helped pave the way for change across the nation.

“Students got out and voted, and it was powerful,” Harris said. “You have demonstrated a durability to organize the power of your vote in a climate where the right to vote is being threatened.”

“I really enjoyed hearing [the vice president] talk about how each voice matters” said McKenna Beauchamp, a senior integrative studies major. “We shouldn’t push away other people’s voices because they don’t conform to the whole idea [of a particular party].”

“I'm extremely grateful for [Harris] coming out here, just showing the students that voting is important,” said Mason Student Body President Natalia Kanos. “Her presence reassures that Mason is advancing in so many ways—it puts our university in the forefront, and I'm really excited to be part of this institution, to register people to vote, to get people out there.”

Students said the opportunity to engage with the vice president was exciting and surreal, and felt it was a unique benefit afforded to them by Mason.

“Being this close to D.C.… we have the opportunity to engage with policymakers [and] change-makers firsthand,” Howard said. “They care about the quality of our education, they want to come in and assist us in that, and it’s a great opportunity.”

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Strong student voter turnout earns Mason ‘Voter-Friendly’ Campus recognition

Colleen Rich — Wed, 17 Mar 2021 14:39:33 +0000

Strong student voter turnout earns Mason ‘Voter-Friendly’ Campus recognition Colleen Rich Wed, 03/17/2021 - 10:39

��ӽ紫ý, the largest and most diverse public research university in the Commonwealth of Virginia, was named a “Voter Friendly Campus” as the result of a campus-wide strategy to increase voter turnout. Mason is one of more than 231 colleges and universities across 37 states and the District of Columbia to earn this designation.

“Mason has experienced steady increases in student voter participation over the past decade, so I view this designation as a recognition of that progress and validation that campus-wide initiatives like Mason Votes actually do have a positive impact on civic engagement,” said Jason Hartsel, assistant director of student media and communication and marketing faculty member.

Mason students living and registered on campus vote at the University Precinct in Merten Hall, which is in the 11th Congressional District. In November 2020, 347 people voted in the presidential election in the University Precinct.

According to Tufts’ National Study of Learning, Voting and Engagement (NSLVE), Mason voting rates in midterm elections, which typically see much lower turnout than presidential cycles, more than doubled from 2014 to 2018, from 24.6% to 52.4%, respectively, and Mason’s presidential voting turnout exceeded the national average by about 15 percentage points in both 2012 and 2016.

“Voting is so important because we elect individuals who potentially have the power to change our own lives or the lives of other communities,” said Mason Student Body President Shelby Adams. “Being a Voter Friendly campus shows that, as students, we recognize a change needs to come, and we are willing to be a part of that change.”

The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement reports that 52% to 55% percent of voting-eligible young people, ages 18-29, cast a ballot in the 2020 presidential election.

The Voter Friendly Campus designation aims to showcase efforts that help students overcome barriers to participating in the political process and develop a culture of democratic engagement on campus and in the local community. The initiative is led by the national nonpartisan organizations Fair Elections Center’s Campus Vote Project (CVP) and NASPA–Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education. The designation is valid through December 2022.

Despite the global pandemic, Mason increased its academic collaborations, with the additions of members from the Office of Community Engagement and Civic Learning and Coalition Building and Diversity Education, and partnered with the League of Women Voters and the Fairfax County Board of Elections.

Student Media received a grant from the Parents Fund in Fall 2020 to offer experiential learning scholarships to students serving on the 2020 Mason Votes Online Editorial Team. As a result of more original content offerings, masonvotes.gmu.edu saw a significant increase in web traffic during the 2020 election.

“Students feel passionate about issues like social justice, immigrant rights, gender equality, ballot access, and many others, but implementing positive change in those spaces is only possible through meaningful participation in the political process,” said Hartsel.

Mason Cable Network's 2020 Live Election Coverage, which was live for about eight hours on Election Day and through 3:30 a.m. the next day, also proved to be successful.

“Not only did we have a successful broadcast that provided meaningful content to the Mason student body, but we blew everyone's expectations out of the water,” said Mason News Network General Manager Cruz Sanchez.

To encourage long-term civic engagement, Mason established a post-election committee to ensure a safe place to discuss the results of the election and people's reactions to it.

“No matter the outcome, the committee found it pertinent to establish post-election events to cater to student's needs,” said Noah Mack, a first-year student in the Schar School of Policy and Government.

Learn more about the “Voter Friendly Campus” initiative at www.voterfriendlycampus.org.

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Mason plans activities around the presidential election

Colleen Rich — Fri, 30 Oct 2020 09:00:34 +0000

Mason plans activities around the presidential election Colleen Rich Fri, 10/30/2020 - 05:00

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