Getting out the Vote on Campus and Beyond

Brandeis Stories

Getting out the Vote on Campus and Beyond

By David Levin
October 8, 2024 • Humanities and Social Sciences

Since her freshman year, Mandy Feuerman '26 has been passionately involved in political action and voter outreach at Brandeis. Today at 4 p.m., she'll share her expertise with students across the country as a participant in a nationally-streamed panel discussion, "Student Voices on Voting: How Students Are Approaching the Upcoming Election."

The event, which will be hosted on Zoom, was organized by Campus Compact, a nonprofit devoted to civic and community engagement. Viewers can register for the session through the group's website.

In addition to Feuerman, the panel will feature three other undergraduates from the University of Wisconsin, Texas Women's University, and Northampton County Area Community College. All of the students are recipients of Campus Compact's prestigious Newman Civic Fellowship, a year-long program that recognizes engaged student leaders who foster positive social change.

Feuerman hopes to offer advice to other student organizers doing voter outreach both on and off campus, and to provide a few words of moral support. Political organizing can require a thick skin when participating in phone banks or canvassing door to door.
"A lot of people are going to want to look away from you, not make eye contact with you, yell and hang up the phone on you. You can't get too in your head about it - it's not personal," she says. "You just have to bounce back from that, and the way to do that is to keep organizing, keep phone banking, keep canvassing."

Feuerman wants to drive home the profound stakes at play in any major election, and help convey the urgency of her fellow organizers' work. The outcome of an election, after all, affects every one of us.

"Everything in your life is determined by the government. If you drove to work this morning, you're on roads regulated by the government. If you're breathing, it's air that is regulated by the government to make sure there are no chemicals in it," Feuerman says. "If somebody's in power who cares more or less about those sorts of things, your life changes - and the way that you can decide how you want your life to look is by voting. It's an immense privilege that we've been given."