Chronversations with Levi Libson: Columbia Votes discusses civic engagement and why your participation matters

Transcript:

0:07: Welcome back to Conversations. 

0:09: I’m your host, Levi Libson. 

0:14: From voting for your president or even our own Illinois primary election, there are many ways for people to make their voices heard and to take part in shaping the policies that affect our daily lives. 

0:24: Voting is one of the most direct ways to influence education, funding, expression and civil rights protections. 

0:31: Yet many people don’t realize the power something like this holds or where to turn if they have questions. 

0:36: This week, I spoke with Melissa Gamble and Saoirse Adams about the importance of knowing your voter rights, understanding how voter laws can change and learning what resources are available if you need help registering or finding your polling place.

0:48: Melissa Gamble, M-E-L-I-S-S-A.

0:51: I am an assistant professor in the School of Fashion and the civic engagement fellow that works with the Columbia Votes Program and the voter registration geniuses. 

1:02: On February 19th, Melissa Gamble, along with the rest of Columbia Votes, hosted a Knowing your rights event. 

1:08: Beyond just voter rights, Columbia Votes promotes knowing your general rights in the ever more and more confusing environment we live in today. 

1:16: The environment is changing. 

1:18: It is important for students to be aware of those changes and be prepared so that they can still exercise their rights to vote. 

1:29: The panel tonight is made up of experts to help them understand what some of those changes are. 

1:36: Columbia Votes is a nonpartisan organization on campus that is dedicated to raising awareness about the importance of voting and also helping students get registered to vote and understand how to vote in the districts where they’re registered. 

1:54: If you didn’t attend this event, do not fret. 

1:57: Columbia Votes has many public resources available for your convenience. 

2:01: Here’s Saoirse Adams, a voter registration genius and great contact point for this organization. 

2:06: My name is Saoirse Adams. I’m a junior here at Columbia. My pronouns are she/they. 

2:11: I’m a film and television major, and I’ve been with Columbia Votes since last year. 

2:15: So how often are these events actually hosted, the Knowing your Rights events? 

2:20: Yeah, so this has been, we did a Know your Rights around the same time, but a little later last year. 

2:28: We do a lot of these events usually filling the gaps in between big election moments, but yeah, we really like to do these events just to continue the civic involvement on campus. 

2:39: So we try to do them as often as we can, but usually, we try to get at least one a semester. 

2:44: Could you briefly touch on some of those major changes recently to voting? 

2:48: Yeah, there’s been this kind of transitionary period. 

2:52: Most states, I would say, roughly about two-thirds have transitioned to online registration. 

2:59: And with that, also there’s rules changing with notaries and things like that. 

3:06: And those regulations aren’t explicitly told to people in a way, and so there’s a lot of changes and a lot of regulations that it’s just incredibly confusing to keep up with. 

3:18: Yeah, what are some places that students can access this information and find upcoming ballots and learn how to better participate in all of this? 

3:29: Yeah, so we have an amazing program called Motivote, that students can sign up with with their Columbia credentials, and it’s a super incredible resource that gives you notifications for when your local elections are. 

3:42: So whether that’s you’re registered to vote here in Illinois or back home, it will give you those reminders, which is super handy for all those little local elections like I was saying because the dates can kind of be scattered.

3:53: And similarly, in the same place, it can give you candidate information, which is also sometimes tricky to find. Sometimes it’ll only be found on the candidate’s website, and that can obviously give a polished view of, you know, their stances on things. 

4:07: Similarly, Ballotpedia is also a great website, Ballotpedia.org. That will give you, again, state-by-state dates and requirements and deadlines and things like that. 

4:18: But yeah, those are some incredible resources, but Motivote again, I like stress to our students, it’s really amazing. And a super…yeah. Super, just, incredible resource. I can’t stress it enough. 

4:28: Finally, if there was one message you would want to pass on to students, what would it be? 

4:33: I would say either vote if you know you’re registered and you know where to vote. 

4:39: If you have questions, reach out to Columbia Vote. 

4:42: It’s easy to forget this sometimes, and structures like us to forget that politics are employees of the people. 

4:51: We’re their bosses, and it’s, again, hard to feel that way sometimes with how the world is, but politicians really are employees of the people, and it’s okay to remind them of that and remind them of their duties, and voting is the way we do that. 

5:06: We can, you know, tell them how we feel about things, and politicians, they’re there for the people. 

5:14: Make sure to stay up to date with campus and metro news at columbiachronicle.com. 

5:18: I’m Levi Libson. 

5:20: Thanks for listening. 

Copy edited by Katie Peters