strengthen democracy by making research relevant to communities
Scholars have the opportunity to bridge the divide between knowledge held in communities and knowledge derived from academic research. The Valley Votes Program is an instructive example of this work.
More kinds of knowledge = better strategy
The movement for 100% student voting needs to access many different kinds of knowledge to build a stronger democracy! We need the kind of knowledge that voters get when they experience feelings of inclusion or rejection around elections. We need the kind of expertise that local election officials get when they go through the high stakes process of running an election fairly and efficiently for thousands of voters. We need the kind of validated theoretical insights that come from academic research and commitment to the scientific method. All these kinds of knowledge - and so much more - have a crucial role to play in giving our movement the holistic intelligence it needs to achieve 100% student voting.
The Scholars Strategy Network (SSN) - a founding partner of the Student Vote Research Network - has been “bridging the gap between knowledge and power” for over a decade by helping scholars engage effectively with the public and policy makers. This year, SSN sought to bring their work to bear specifically on the mission of improving, increasing participation in, and building trust in elections through their Election Protection and Enhancement Program. The program supported eight projects across the country that helped scholars engage with their communities around issues of election trust. We were proud to be selected for this program to engage voters throughout the Shenandoah Valley through the Valley Votes initiative.
What we learned from "Valley Votes”
The Virginia SSN Chapter launched its Valley Votes Project to rebuild trust in elections by launching a series of voter engagement efforts in the Shenandoah Valley. Our efforts included a speaker series, an updated interactive website, and voter registration tabling on college campuses and in the community. These efforts combined standard voter registration and education efforts with more in-depth work to make academic research on elections accessible to students and the public.
Virginia’s Landscape
Virginia is in a unique electoral situation. Virginia has an election every year, which sets it apart from many states. Virginia’s gubernatorial and state legislative elections are held in odd years, while national races, such as midterms, are held in even years. With this background, Virginia typically has a high turnout rate in elections, for instance a turnout rate of 66% (for all voters) in the 2020 election.
In the Midterm election of 2018, youth turnout in Virginia increased by 20.2% from 2014 turnout. While Virginia does tend to have a higher turnout than other states, youth voting is still a challenge. With many different institutions of higher education encouraging turnout, we believed efforts to build trust in elections could help make youth voting higher than the 2018 results of 33.4% (CIRCLE, 2019).
Voter Engagement Efforts Make Democracy Fun
Knowing that peers are one of the most important ways to encourage other students to vote, we held voter registration tables at area campuses throughout September and October. After the last day to register to vote in Virginia (October 17th), we changed to voter education tables. Two ways that we strategized about encouraging students to come over to our tables was food and stuffed animals. Examples of these stuffed animals include a monkey that has a shirt saying, “Stop monkeying around and Register,” a tiger that says “Earn your stripes Register, Learn, Vote”, and a bear with a shirt saying “It would be beary nice if you would vote”.
Speaker Series Makes Research Accessible
In addition to our Voter Education and Mobilization Efforts the Valley Votes Project also launched its Speaker Series, focused on non-partisan voter education to make research on elections accessible to the public.
Valley Votes Securely In September, our first event highlighted practical ways of ensuring trust in elections, especially after the claims of mis and disinformation following the 2020 elections. Speakers included both of us along with other election administrators and local professors.
Valley Votes Confidently In October, our second event included guest speaker Colorado Elections Director Judd Choate discussing a recent study on election trust in Colorado.
Valley Votes Enthusiastically Our final event on Nov. 2 featured elected officials from the Shenandoah Valley discussing the value and importance of voting and elections. Special attention was paid to the value of voting in midterm elections. By adding the event to community calendars and posting the event on social media, the Valley Votes Project engaged many community members.
The Upshot
Scholars can play a critical role in building trust in elections and improving voter participation. When we take the time to present key research insights in accessible ways in community spaces, we can both bring new knowledge to the community and gain deeper insights into some of the challenges facing our democracy. We learned so much from communities across the Shenandoah Valley through The Valley Votes campaign. We’d be happy to connect with other scholars in the Student Vote Research Network who are interested in doing this kind of work in their communities.
Bobbi G. Gentry, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Bridgewater College and is a youth voting scholar. Her work Why Youth Vote examines how political identity influences whether young people will participate or disengage from the political process.
Benjamin Blankenship, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at James Madison University.
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