Tuskegee Students Host Voter Activation to Inform, Engage

Tuskegee Students Host Voter Activation to Inform, Engage

September 12, 2024

Contact: Thonnia Lee, Office of Communications, Public Relations and Marketing

With election season in full swing, Tuskegee University students wanted their classmates to learn more about the voter registration process and why engagement is important and the responsibility that comes with citizenship.

During the nonpartisan VoteHBCU and Tuskegee University SGA Say It Louder Tour Activation this week, students were able to move from booth to booth to test their knowledge on the country's voting history, learn how to vote absentee, or enjoy a moment of levity with prizes and fun under the backdrop of an important theme.

Tuskegee is one of 10 HBCUs selected to host this tour in partnership with VoteHBCU, highlighting our campus's commitment to civic engagement.

"This initiative is a student-led, nonpartisan effort that is part of a nationwide tour designed to empower students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities by encouraging them to register to vote and commit to participating in the democratic process," said Scotteria Scott, the SGA Elections Commissioner and an intern with VoteHBCU.

Rain forced the outdoor voter engagement festival into the Tompkins Hall ballroom Wednesday, but Tuskegee University students remained determined to energize their classmates. There were cheerleaders, Ball and Parlay, games with prizes converging in the ballroom with the thump of speakers as a DJ kept the energy of the room up. Before it was over, the sororities and fraternities added a step show to entertain the several hundred students who attended.

Dean of Students Tameka A. Harper said voting is a rite of passage for Tuskegee students.

"Much like obtaining your first driver's license-it marks the moment you take the wheel of your future in our society," she said. "Just as many of our students made the pivotal choice to join the Tuskegee University family, many will now make another defining decision: choosing who will lead our nation. It has been an absolute honor to support this student led 'Say It Louder Tour' and witness our young adults stepping confidently into their roles as engaged citizens, ready to shape the future through their voices and votes."

One SGA Election Committee table had balloons with political questions based on the U.S. citizenship test questions. Correct answers earned a variety of prizes: branded bags, T-shirts, or water bottles.

"Getting out to vote is the best we can do to honor our ancestors," said Nia Burks, a senior Biology major who is president of the TU NAACP. Their table featured information on Alabama civil rights leaders.

Representatives from the Council of National Service Organizations outlined the process for absentee ballots so that students from out of state could outline their plan to register and vote absentee if needed.

Anitria Sangster, a senior Psychology major from Fort Lauderdale, said coming out for the event was "the right thing to do." She was volunteering for the "Pie an Athlete" event for the Student Athletic Committee.

A row of student athletes sat in chairs protecting hair and clothing as those who gathered nonpartisan voter information on how to register, learned where they were allowed to vote and encouraged to vote in person or via absentee ballot, were allowed to plant a plate of whipped cream in the face of their favorite student athlete.

Ja'Nise Gentry worked the WokeVote table with jars of jellybeans where students were given a voter literacy test to try to register to vote the same way many were tested in the 1950s - guessing the number of jellybeans in a jar.

"We wanted to engage more with college students and get them more information because there are student loans on the line, reproductive rights on the line," she said.

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