October 15, 2024

MSM Director of Student Engagement Jesse Goldberg is heading up a Voting Initiatives campaign at MSM to encourage the community to register to vote on November 5! She talks to us about the three-pronged approach of the campaign—and why it is so important.

Jesse Goldberg poses in the photo above on October 9 with MSM Musical Theatre student Matthew Pichler. They’re at the Voting Initiative table in MSM’s main lobby outside Neidorff-Karpati Hall.
 

Tell us about events that are taking place at MSM to raise awareness about the importance of voting?

Jesse: We’ve taken a three-pronged approach to our Voting Initiative this year: Voter Registration, Voter Education, and Voting-Day Support.

To encourage and promote voter registration on campus, we have held four voting registration drives including one on move-in day that reached 40% of our incoming students, with tables staffed by Staff and Faculty volunteers, as well as an event led by the NY Chapter of the League of Women Voters supported by the Student Organization MSM Womxn

The whole community has gotten involved, and we have helped nearly 200 MSM Students with their registrations. To support Voter Education, we held a fun workshop on Constitution Day that included a timeline of voting rights, and a fun quiz game run by Director of Student Success Vaughn Watson.

We’ll also be holding several events over the next few weeks: An absentee ballot drive this Wednesday, October 16 to encourage students who are registered in their home states to request their Absentee ballots, and to answer any election questions they may have.

We will also be running a “De-mystifying the ballot” workshop on Tuesday, October 22 where we will walk students through a NY ballot and help them find easy resources for understanding what propositions and races they may be voting on this cycle beyond the Presidential election. We will also have a poll locator QR code available at this workshop to help students make a plan to vote.

Faculty have been offered hand-outs of materials to offer their students in support of these educational efforts. To support our students on Election Day, students will not be marked as late or absent if they show proof of voting as the cause for their delay (i.e.- a photo of them standing in line at the poll).

We will have a table in the lobby on Election Day with a cut-out of Manny with an “I voted” sticker on for students to take photos with, and will be posting the photos to social media to show that MSM Votes! We also have fidget toys and voting stickers to hand out.

Why is the MSM Voting Initiative campaign important?

Jesse: Civic Engagement is important because it allows us to nurture our students not just as incredibly talented and dedicated musicians, but as stewards of the democratic future of our country and engaged citizens. Helping our students to understand the importance of democracy and ensuring their voices are heard is an important advocacy skill for them to learn, and can be applied to any project they find themselves working on. It is also an important time to come together and engage in non-partisan projects, modeling the behavior we want to see in the world.

What has the response been so far?

Jesse: The response has been overwhelmingly positive from students, staff, and faculty! It is particularly heartwarming to see students drawn to the tabling events when they see their professors advocating for registering to vote.

Graphic Design Associate Sasha Ross Becker has designed a version of MSM’s beloved mascot Manny voting, and Campus Store Manager and MSM alumna Julia MacGoy has designed adorable stickers, postcards, and other merch to help promote voting to the MSM Community.

What steps should someone at MSM take to be registered?

Jesse: While some states may have voter registration deadlines that have already passed, it is possible to register to vote in New York until October 26, 2024. You can email the Student Engagement office at studentengagement@msmnyc.edu with questions, or check out the highlighted stories on the MSM Student Affairs Instagram account to learn more.

Want to get involved?

Contact: studentengagement@msmnyc.edu