Elon University’s Elon Votes hosted a registration drive Sept. 17 in the Moseley Center. The organization, dedicated to preparing students to participate in elections, partnered with the Kernodle Center at Elon to get students registered. 

Senior Ashley Hess from Elon Votes said many students don’t know what regions they can vote for.

“College is a really amazing time in your life where you get to choose where you vote,” Hess said. “Students are able to register either here in Alamance County or in their home county or permanent address.”

Registering to vote can be difficult for students to do by themselves, Hess added. However, Elon offers a free service called TurboVote to students wishing to register.

“It condenses all 50 states' registration applications into one form, which is really awesome,” Hess said. “It can take 10 minutes for you to register to vote and have your voting plan all figured out.”

Hess encouraged students to register as soon as possible.

“If you get it done early,” she said, “and there's a clerical error or an issue with those executive orders that are being passed, you have time to correct that. If you show up on election day and there's an issue, you're kind of out of luck.”

Junior Ella Reynolds is a civic engagement ambassador for the Kernodle Center. In her experience, many students are less interested in voting in the midterms.

“A lot of people don't realize how important it is to be voting in the midterms,” Reynolds said. “Your vote matters.”

Elon Votes also partnered with the Black Student Union. Vice president of BSU junior Sydni Mebane invited fellow students to get engaged, but to do so while informed. 

“Being civically engaged as a college student when you are going out in the world and using your rights to vote and protest, it's very important to know what's going on and how to be civically engaged,” Mebane said.

Mebane said that some Black students may think their voice isn’t important and choose not to vote. 

“I think having representation is important,” she said. “Just showing that other Black students, whether they're on campus or choose to come to Elon, that they do have a voice here, and it does matter.”

The deadline to register to vote in Alamance County is Oct. 9, with same-day registration available Oct. 15.