Middle Georgia college students exceed the national average in this category

College students in Middle Georgia are voting at rates higher than the national average.

The National Study of Learning, Voting and Engagement released a report in 2019 that shows Georgia College & State University, Middle Georgia State University and Mercer University have all increased voter turnout from 2014 to 2018.

Middle Georgia State University’s voting rate was 48.2 percent, an increase of 25.3 percent from 2014. Mercer University’s voting rate was 49.8 percent, a 22.2 percent increase. Georgia College’s voting rate was 41.2 percent, a 28.1 percent increase.

The national average for college students is 40.3 percent.

For each of these schools, there seems to be agreement on one possible reason for the increase — engagement. Georgia College State University’s Ruby Zimmerman said that they have been focusing on creating events that will appeal to students. One campaign in particular involved every student’s weakness: food.

“To draw people in, we have been pairing up with national food days actually,” Zimmerman said. “So we had a National Cheese Pizza Day and registered to vote, National Donut Day and register to vote.”

Zimmerman said that already this school year at Georgia College there have been at least a dozen tables dedicated to raising awareness and getting students to register to vote.

At Middle Georgia State University,Christopher Lawrence, the associate professor of political science and chair of the Political Science Department at Middle Georgia State University, said they are working on a campaign that simply puts the information where students will see it.

“We’ve got some electronic signs on one of our buildings that we got to put up a notice about, you know, getting registered to vote and that sort of thing,” Lawrence said, “and kind of publicizing our voting statistics and, you know, kind of encourage students to do a little bit better there.”

He said the university has also handed out postcards with links to the secretary of state’s website and the federal voter registration website to spread awareness on how local and out of state students can get registered.

At Mercer University, Mobilize Mercer drives voter engagement. The organization is a non-partisan student organization dedicated to organizing events like debate watch parties and voter turnout drives. Lauren Shinholster, director for community engagement at Mercer, is the advisor for Mobilize Mercer. The group works to find issues important to student voters and channel those issues into voter engagement campaigns.

“The politicians have to know what your issues are in order to advocate for that,” Shinholster said. “So we want to make sure that students are prepared to make sure that their voices are listened to.”

The engagement is aimed not only at getting students to vote but to become civically engaged.

In 2017, Mary Parham-Copelan won the Milledgeville mayoral election by only 6 votes beating the incumbent, Gary Thrower. Zimmerman thinks her efforts paid off.

“One of my phone calls that I made during that time for people to get out and vote could have made the difference for that mayoral election,” said Zimmerman. “So I definitely have been trying to encourage people not just to go out and vote but to become politically active.”

Zimmerman says students have the ability to be the cause of true political change in the world. Shinholster agrees.

“For me as a staff (member) of Mercer, when you mentioned change in the world, I really want students to realize the impact of their vote, and although you may not necessarily feel it, you’ll notice it years down the road when it’s time to work or when you’re voting for your own children,” Shinholster said.

Zimmerman is passionate about getting her peers to the voting booth.

“I always tell everybody that the easiest way to become politically active is just to go vote,” she said.