TU ready for National Voter Registration Day

By Kyle Hobstetter on September 26, 2021

Even in an off year for elections, Towson University is putting in the work to make sure students are registered to vote.

Tuesday, Sept. 28, is National Voter Registration Day. To celebrate, the Office of Civic Engagement & Social Responsibility[BROKEN LINK] and TU Athletes Vote will be hosting day-long student voter registration tabling events.

From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., student-athletes, students and other members of the TU community will be stationed at Freedom Square and the “Fishbowl” in the lower level of the Towson Center to register new voters. The process is simple, with students just scanning a QR code that immediately links to TU’s dedicated TurboVote registration site.

Women’s basketball associate head coach Zach Kancher is the creator and adviser for TU Athletes Vote and says that last fall, 14 teams were 100% registered to vote in one of the most hyped general elections in the modern era.

There was also a perfect storm of the pandemic and social justice issues that compelled many student-athletes who may not have been “into politics” to become part of one of the most motivated and informed sections of the electorate.

After watching last year’s dedication, Kancher is not surprised to see student-athletes take the lead in registering their fellow students, even in an off year.

“Our student-athletes are smart and informed, and, despite the 2022 midterm elections being over a year away, they recognize the importance of registering new voters—many of whom were not of age in 2020—especially on National Voter Registration Day, which is a terrific national initiative,” he says.

Towson University continues to be an institution that promotes civic leadership. TU recently made “Washington Monthly’s” roundup of America’s Best Colleges for Student Voting, where it is one of 16 institutions nationwide with a student voter registration rate above 85%.

This past March, Towson University was one of more than 231 campuses in 37 states and the District of Columbia designated as a “Voter-Friendly Campus” by Fair Elections Center’s Campus Vote Project and NASPA – Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education.

Last fall, to combat the pandemic, TU helped develop physically distanced programming to register community members to vote and partnered with TurboVote, an online tool that helps users check their voter registration status, register to vote and track upcoming elections. TU also worked to ensure that every member of its community was counted in the U.S. Census, helping to address the revenue loss in the local area due to undercounting of students.

“TU is an extremely active and engaged community,” Kancher says. “Our students, staff and faculty recognize that the issues brought to light in 2020 didn’t subside with that election; even though everyone is back on campus, the issues are still in the forefront of people’s minds.

“TU Athletes Vote’s goal is to create habitual voters—students and student-athletes who participate in every election—and pass on that habit.”