Bloomington in Action
Before their collaboration on a digital voter registration drive, Lucia Walker and Celina German never knew they lived in the same neighborhood, let alone the same town. Lucia, a rising senior at Bloomington High School South in Bloomington, Indiana, and Celina, a rising senior at Kenyon College and a BHSS alumna, are both interested in civic engagement. Yet coming from different student cycles of high school and with no common outlet or volunteer base to work with, it took these two a little longer than expected to meet. Celina German, an Outreach Assistant at The Civics Center, texted Lucia about getting involved with voter registration after a friend of a friend sent her number. However, when the school administration wasn’t the most receptive to their plans for a voter registration drive given the uncertain state of the schools, Lucia and Celina had to get more creative.
In May, Lucia attended The Civics Center’s first-ever Future Voters Action Week (FVAW), which Celina helped co-facilitate. Constructing her Public Narrative by sewing her stories of self, us, and now into a linked narrative, Lucia found her voice and space for activism. With a heightened awareness of the resources available and her passion within, Lucia took absolute charge of the situation at home. Within two weeks, she created a 200 person following on her @FutureVotersBtown page on Instagram, got twelve student volunteers on board, and obtained a database of 900+ names through a public records request (with Celina’s assistance). Using her notes from FVAW, Lucia created a robust and well-organized google folder for her student volunteers to share resources and materials. Leading up to their event, student volunteers introduced themselves on the @FutureVotersBtown handle in short bio posts, elaborating on why voting matters and on their personal connections to the cause. After holding just two google meet sessions with their passionate group of student volunteers, Lucia and Future Voters Btown were ready to take on their very first digital voter registration drive!
Over the course of three days, volunteers changed their Instagram profile pictures to a “Register to Vote” graphic to promote unity and recognition. Volunteers seized the opportunity to do story takeovers to personally remind individuals how voting can be fun. In the three days, they registered around 25 students, confirmed hundreds of voter registrations, connected with 500+ members of the Bloomington high school community, and impacted many families to discuss voting. If this wasn’t already impressive, during the drive, Lucia received a number of requests from local students interested in joining the group as volunteers. Lucia and the student volunteers carved out a space in the Bloomington community to impact change. Furthermore, other local students witnessed that impact and wanted to be a part of the movement as well.
The success of this first drive brought a lot of promise for Lucia and the other students living in the Bloomington area as they go forward with Future Voters. One of their ambitions is to circle back to the initially reluctant administration to reopen communication on how, collaboratively, students can make a difference by registering their peers to vote. Lucia and all the many volunteers who dedicate their time to this initiative believe that their drive is no anomaly. If inspired, students across the country can take the same easy steps to enact change in their communities by registering high schoolers and recent graduates to vote! Be the change; be the movement. Make young voices heard!