National Voter Registration Day

Lara Murray-Sterzel, Editor-In-Chief

The time has finally come, Oneonta! Election Day is drawing in close. Which is why the League of Women Voters of the Cooperstown Area visited Oneonta not long ago and led a tabling event in the Quad to excite our school about voting. The table was held by League members and student volunteers who provided applications, pamphlets, and registration forms to students ready to vote.    

Last Tuesday, Sep. 17, was National Voter Registration Day. A day that certainly went unnoticed by the League of Women Voters. Waking up bright and early that morning, League members arrived at Oneonta to set up their table before classes began. Everyone was excited, especially Aviva Schneider, a member on the Board of Directors of The League of Women Voters of the Cooperstown Area. 

“We were planning this for a while and reached out to the State University of New York in the spring or the summer. Bill Harcleroad and Rob Thibault have both been incredibly helpful. They answered our emails and they’ve provided a lot of assistance,” said Schneider, “When we reached out and asked them specifically about tabling today they not only gave us their approval and their blessings, but they helped us with finding student volunteers.” 

Schinder revealed that Oneonta is one of the four locations the League of Women Voters were visiting that day, saying the other three tables are closer to Cooperstown. In the past, Schinder’s recalled seeing a lot of organizations partner together to get as many people to register. Inspired by this, the League of Women Voters felt Oneonta deserved that same chance but they wouldn’t do it alone. A mini-training was conducted to students who volunteered for the event about how to engage with bypassers and providing them the necessary information they could need.

The League of Women Voters has made it a part of their mission to fight for the rights of youth voters because we now look to the future. They hope having been here on campus will remind students to think about it. 

“Every generation has their own issues and every person has something that they want out of government. It’s just important that you get out there and show what that is and represent what you believe in,” said Erica Siaulnski, a student volunteer.

“Voting is the unconscious mass of the people and I think largely it exists to not only unite us but to create some sort of identity and stability,” said Nicholas Gilbert, President of the Democracy Matters Club. “I think right now is a time when we’re really going through a reckoning in what kind of identity we’re willing to accept and what kind of stability we really want.”

Didn’t get the chance to come to the table? Students can register until October 26th. There are QR codes scattered across the campus and the Democracy Matters Club to help. Keep in mind, students can choose to register here in Otsego County or register in the county they’re from. They can simply go online and search the name of the county, the name of the state, and type the words ‘‘Board of Elections.’’ If you run into any trouble call the Board of Elections or contact the League of Women Voters.

Catch the League of Women Voters again at their event “Democracy Is Not A Spectator Sport!” next month at Hunt Union.