Kent State is still reeling from Akron Votes’ presence on campus, which left an estimated 250 students incorrectly registered to vote in the upcoming fall election.
Although Kent State Votes has made significant progress on solving the issue, other organizations are chipping in to help. Renee Ellis, a Center for Undergraduate Excellence community action fellow, meets with Kent State Votes weekly to discuss civic engagement strategies.
It was from those meetings that she learned of Akron Votes’ mishaps.
“In those meetings we brainstormed ideas of how we as students and Kent State Votes can help address this problem, and the best way for Kent State students to make sure their votes are protected,” Ellis said. “Also, protecting their [students’] identity to make sure everyone’s safe and how we can make sure problems like this don’t happen again.”
Ellis also personally knew several students who were incorrectly registered through Akron Votes. She warned this problem is real and added students of color were largely impacted.
“It’s not as far away from an issue as we think it is,” Ellis said. “This affects students directly here on campus.”
In a bid to reach as many students as possible, Ellis is sending out a flyer to all campus organizations CUE is able to communicate with. Once sent out, the flyer will be reposted by the organizations to inform students about possible voter registration errors. According to Ellis, several multicultural organizations have already agreed to repost the flier.
The flyer will inform students to check their registration online, regardless if they registered with Akron Votes or not. It will also direct students to reach out to Kent State Votes to help them re-register, if there are any issues. A’kyra Holley, director of women of color advancement and USG vice chair for governmental affairs, has worked with Ellis on the process of sending out this information.
“We want to emphasize to not be discouraged by what’s going on, because I feel that’s what the objective is, regardless if it’s intentional or unintentional,” Holley said. “The objective is to not vote and feel like your voice doesn’t matter, but it does.”
It’s been confirmed that the registrars weren’t intentionally incorrectly registering voters, and due to this fact, Ellis and Holley believe they shouldn’t face consequences. They also believe moving forward and not pushing blame is the best option to resolve this.
“They were just serving the way they can and doing what they thought they were supposed to be doing,” Holley said. “Pointing the finger is not productive.”
According to Zach Graves, USG director of governmental affairs and co-chair of Kent State Votes, the situation with Akron Votes has generally been handled.
Their number of registrars on campus have also “dwindled severely” since the incident, according to Ellis.
John Engoglia is a beat reporter. Contact him at [email protected].