Mission Statement

In the 2004 presidential election, young people voted in record numbers. However, young people (ages 18-24) were still the least active voting bloc in the electorate. In 2004, according to CIRCLE’s Youth Engagement Project, 47% of 18-24 year old citizens voted while 66% of citizens 25 and older voted. Countless studies have proven individuals who vote at a young age vote more consistently throughout their lifetime, becoming active lifelong citizens. Therefore, it is the non-partisan mission of Tufts Votes to make voter registration a priority among young people. We will work with the Tufts community to design a sustained, student-driven voter registration initiative that can be institutionalized through Tufts Votes in conjunction with the Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service.

If you want to get involved on campus, please contact us. We're always looking to get people involved.

Goals

1. To form constructive partnerships to share ideas and resources.
2. To use those partnerships to register, educate and mobilize Tufts and Somerville area college students to become active lifelong citizens.
3. To eventually institutionalize this registration, education, and mobilization initiative at Tufts and fellow institutions, using the infrastructure of student organizations and service-learning projects.
4. To raise awareness about civic issues and promote lifelong active citizenship in our generation.

Tufts Projects

• Coordinating a system of dorm captains to work with individuals in the process of voter registration to reduce the amount of minor errors that nullify voter registration forms.
• Creating a voter contact database of Tufts students, facilitating the diffusion of information regarding absentee ballot procedures and deadlines and general, nonpartisan election information.
• Developing a reference guide containing answers to frequently asked questions and state-specific voter registration and voting information to be displayed on a new website.
• Creating a repository of one-stop information about the voting process to be housed at the Tisch College.

Cooperating Organizations

• Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service
• Massachusetts Campus Compact
• MassVOTE

If you have questions, please contact us. If you want to speak to someone directly, please contact Shana Hurley '10 (Shana.Hurleytufts.edu) or Ethan Hochheiser '10 (Ethan.Hochheisertufts.edu). Our webmaster is Mike Vastola (Michael.Vastolatufts.edu) and he is a champ!

© 2008 TuftsVotes.com