In this webinar, participants will be introduced to Votes & Ballots, an interactive activity that takes the guesswork out of on-campus democratic engagement. Players are tasked with creating a comprehensive action plan while keeping in mind their institution’s historical voting rates (via NSLVE data), their resources, and the unique challenges faced by student voters. Votes & Ballots has been primarily played among students and staff, but, with an eye toward deepening faculty engagement, a Votes & Ballots: Curricular Edition is in development. Participants will learn about multiple ways through which they can incorporate Votes & Ballots into their work and be able to ask questions/offer feedback.

 

Presenters:

Emily supports college campuses across the country in their work to increase civic learning and democratic engagement among student voters, with a particular focus on leveraging technology. In addition to supporting partners’ strategic use of TurboVote, Emily travels to conferences in order to facilitate Votes & Ballots, an action planning activity developed by Democracy Works that takes the guesswork out of on-campus democratic engagement. She graduated from the University of Missouri with a Bachelor of Journalism degree and, before joining Democracy Works, was part of the EdTech team at Scholastic. Emily’s based in Chicago for now, but she has a knack for landing in new cities and setting out to discover all they have to offer in the realms of dance, bookstores, and burgers.

 

Allison Rank, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Oswego State University of New York
Dr. Rank teaches courses in American politics with a focus on American political history, political communication, race, and gender. In addition to traditional political science courses, she serves as the campaign manager for the campus-wide voter mobilization program Vote Oswego. In this capacity she oversees an internship program and runs a politics practicum course focused on grassroots organizing. Her research agenda focuses on the role of youth in American politics, civic engagement, and political science pedagogy. Her work has appeared in New Political Science, PS:Political Science & Politics, Journal of Political Science Education, and Citizenship Studies.