Hundreds voted at the Lewiston Armory on Nov. 5, but among them, a sea of familiar faces: Bates students casting their own ballots, many of them led there by the college organization Bates Votes.
Guided by student fellows from the Harward Center, Bates Votes offers resources on voter registration, ballot information and ways to get to the polls.
According to Bates Votes co-coordinator Ethan Chan ‘25, the effort to get Batesies out to vote takes a lot of coordination on Election Day – but also before.
“[Voters are] not allowed to receive any materials on voter education while they’re at the polling place,” Chan said, and “students that are registering for the first time or have to register same day need…to make sure they have their social, they need to make sure they have their Bates ID. And once you get to the polling place…the amount of people that are there can be really hard to make sure they have that information.”
So Bates Votes publicizes ballot and preparation guides via emails to the student body and flyers put up around campus. And then they make the next step easier: they’ll walk you all the way to the polls.
Most students who live on-campus vote at the Lewiston Armory, located on the other side of Lewiston Middle School from Bates. Students who live in John Bertram Hall and 96 Campus Avenue vote at Montello School, a bit over a mile away. No matter where their polling place is, all students could get out to vote with Bates Votes.
“We have van transportation [for Montello], but we’re basically just doing the same thing,” Chan said, “making going less scary…helping them make it a community thing.”
Walks to the polls involved a mix of student and full-time employees, other administrators and other student employees, including Residential Life workers. Many of them led walks or coordinated with other campus organizations to find more volunteers.
The goal was one and the same, though: get out the vote.
“I think that for participating in an electoral democracy, voting is the core principle for making that happen,” Chan said. “I think, by making sure that students feel empowered to vote and encouraged that however they’re casting their vote, they’re kind of signaling the direction of how they see our country and their representation going.”
