Every student, every election. 

That’s the mission behind Stetson Votes and what drives the nonpartisan student-led effort to promote the importance of voting in every election to all students on the Stetson DeLand campus. 

“As a university, we have a unique role to fill in creating a healthy and engaged democracy because usually people are voting in their first election when they are college students,” said Kevin Winchell, Director of Community Engagement. “We don’t take that responsibility lightly; it’s core to our university’s civic mission.” 

With the 2024 presidential elections taking place Tuesday, Nov. 5, this semester poses the perfect opportunity for Stetson Votes to educate students in a nonpartisan way in how to register to vote, what information will be on the ballots, how to research the candidates and how to enroll in vote-by-mail. 

For senior Victoria Ramon, who self-defined her major through the honors program and is majoring in Social Justice and Community Engagement with a minor in Spanish, increasing voter registration, turnout and engagement is her primary goal as the director of Stetson Votes. 

“We get national reports every election cycle that tell us how many students have registered and how many of those students have voted,” she said. “Kevin and I have set a wild goal — we would love that 90% of Stetson’s eligible students are registered to vote, and of those students we want 90% to vote. That’s an 81% turnout rate, and would be about 7 points higher than our 2020 turnout rate of 73.8%.” 

A Different Semester

This academic year marks a milestone for the team as it has six student “Civic Fellows” on payroll — the most it’s ever had — who are responsible for nonpartisan voter registration, vote-by-mail enrollment and voter education. 

“We recognize this is an election cycle where students and young people have a lot of opinions about the candidates and about the issues,” Winchell said. “We want to make sure that here at Stetson, we are giving them all the information they need to be informed and engaged in voting in that first election in which they are eligible, because we believe that our democracy is healthier, and our society is better, when everybody’s voices are heard and when everybody participates in our elections.” 

In efforts to bring this to the attention of fellow Hatters, the Civic Fellows have been planning a plethora of events that will provide a sense of urgency for those students who have yet to register to vote and enforce their civic duty. 

National Voter Registration Day and Constitution Day both fall on Tuesday, Sept. 17. To put an emphasis on the importance of this day, Stetson Votes will host its Citizenship and Naturalization Ceremony in Lee Chapel — a ceremony that was hosted for the first time at Stetson in 1997.  

“We’ll welcome dozens of new U.S. citizens to our country and to our community,” Winchell said. “It’s a beautiful ceremony, and an honor for us to host these families in Lee Chapel on one of the most important days of their lives.” 

A couple of other events such as a Presidential Debate Watch Party, a Straw Poll, and the Things We Don’t Talk About at Dinner dialogue will provide students the space to immerse themselves into a more politically informed climate. 

“We believe deeply that students need to graduate from Stetson having developed the civic skills and habits that allow them to have difficult conversations with people about controversial topics,” Winchell said. 

Any person who wishes to register to vote, update their registration information, or enroll in vote-by-mail can do so at www.vote.org. 

For more information about Stetson Votes, visit www.stetson.edu/vote or contact Kevin Winchell at [email protected]. 

– Andrea Mujica