Mission Seminar Students Host Voter Registration Table

On October 9 and 10, students from the VUSM 290 course, Introduction to Women’s Studies, set up a booth in the main lobby of the Murphy Center to help students register to vote.

Morgan Reutzel, Kaitlin Babcock were students in charge of helping other students register to vote, while Alivia Schmidt-Sanders was just a “friend there for support.”

There were more than just the three of them involved in the registration drive.

“Everybody had to do something for it,” Babcock explained. “Making posters, sitting at the table for an hour. We, as a class, came up with it.”

In regards to the student body, Reutzel had something to contribute.

“College students aren’t as pushed to vote,” Reutzel pointed out. “Sometimes, they’re not as aware.”

Schmidt-Sanders expanded on the idea by stating, “When I ask people, ‘Are you going to vote?’ some of the students said, ‘Eh, I don’t know the people running’ so I’m like, ‘Here, take this’.”

She then showed off one of the handouts on the table. It was a brief summary of the major candidates for the governor, attorney general, secretary of state and senate races in Wisconsin.

They also mentioned that on Election Day, they would be going over to the district’s polling place together. They weren’t entirely sure where they would be meeting, but they said that they would be open to anyone coming with them.

Babcock pointed out that students need to be registered to vote in La Crosse (District 3 to be precise) for it to really work.

In a twist of serendipity, I ran into Dr. Apryl Denny in the hallway after the interview. From our brief conversation on the topic, it was obvious the professor was passionate about students voting.

Dr. Denny’s VUSM 290 class will meet at Viterbo’s clock tower by 11:15 a.m. on November 6 to go vote as a group, and they welcome other students to join them.