A resolution encouraging adding voter registration information in syllabi was introduced at the Feb. 8 Tufts Community Union Senate meeting. The resolution is a dual initiative from JumboVote and the Senate that intends to make voter information accessible to all Tufts students, regardless of major or academic focus.
JumboVote, a Tufts organization that focuses on increasing voter turnout and general civic engagement, introduced the resolution to create another nonpartisan resource to increase voter registration rates and turnout. JumboVote President, Seona Maskara, a senior, explained in a statement to the Daily how the resolution might work.
“We are hoping that every syllabus will have a short blurb on the importance of voting, if eligible, and a link to [voter registration] resources,” Maskara said. “The resolution entails many statistics on voting, how access increases voting rates, and a sample blurb to be included in syllabi.”
According to JumboVote’s Outreach Director, Camille Utter, Tufts students vote at lower rates than the national average. Utter argued that the resolution may address the various voting trend disparities.
“The voices of young adults are not proportionately represented in our government, frequently being drowned out by older adults that vote at higher rates,” Utter wrote in a statement to the Daily. “Aside from generally low turnout for college students, students of color and STEM students consistently vote at lower rates than white students and those studying humanities. We hope to address all of these issues with this resolution.”
Brian Schaffner, professor of political science at Tufts, who has researched voter registration and turnout, does not believe the resolution will be effective at addressing the stated goals of JumboVote based on his research.
“I doubt this would be effective. The first reason is that syllabi are already over-run with lots of information that the University encourages us to include,” he wrote in a statement to the Daily. “When we ask people in surveys to tell us why they did not vote, the top reason is some variation on ‘I’m not interested.’ I would not expect that a statement on a syllabus would motivate unregistered students to figure out how to register to vote.”
Shaffner’s critique of the resolution also stemmed from his research on voting reminders.
“A few years back, I ran an experiment with a former colleague from UMass Amherst where we sent students reminders and instructions on how to vote in the student government elections. The boost in turnout from receiving a reminder and instructions on how to vote was negligible,” he wrote. “I think a syllabus statement encouraging voter registration for federal elections would be much less impactful than what our experiment looked at.”
The Senate does not have the power to force professors to put any information on their syllabi that they do not want to. However, JumboVote argued that professors should still consider including this information in their syllabi.
“We have seen the university reject Senate resolutions in the past. However, if the resolution passes, we would hope that faculty and the Deans respect the democratic process and implement the resolution.”
Utter added that the potential impact of the initiative should encourage professors to participate.
“Studies have consistently shown that a lack of information and trouble voting are the most common reasons that college students don’t vote,” she said. “It’s such an easy step for professors; it’s already written for them and can improve civic engagement, contributing to a more representative government and booming democracy.”
Eitan Hersh, professor of political science at Tufts, wrote that he would not participate in the initiative in a statement to the Daily.
“No, I would definitely not put that information on my syllabus, including on my courses on the subject of US Elections,” Hersh wrote. He did not elaborate further.
Shaffner admitted he would include the information of the resolution onto his syllabi, but also offered a piece of advice for JumboVote and the Senate.
“My work has found that having people pledge to vote (in person to a mobilizer) and then reminding them of that pledge is very effective, especially with college students. A campus-wide effort to get students to pledge to register and vote would be a much better place to focus resources.”
The resolution has yet to be confirmed within the Senate, following a review by the Senate’s Rules Committee.
