Credit: Rachel Williams
The 2022 midterms elections will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 8, and Illinois Wesleyan’s Civic Engagement Committee encouraged students to vote. IWU students can vote in Hansen Student Center, and the Student Senate has sent out multiple emails that include a step-by-step guide on how to register to vote.
Rachel Williams, the Civic Engagement commissioner, talked to The Pantagraph last weekend and was included in their article about Central Illinois schools’ attempts to encourage young people to engage in the election. Knowing midterms would be this fall, Williams decided to run for her Student Senate position to help students vote.
“My committee has hosted a few events and plans to hand out cookies on Election Day, but our major program was our Titans Vote event,” Williams said. Titans Vote took place Sept. 29 outside of Memorial Center, and the Civic Engagement committee showed students how to register online or in their home state. They offered ice cream and students could make their own buttons.
The local alderwoman, Mollie Ward, spoke at the event and discussed ways to be involved in local politics.
Over 100 people attended the event, 75 of which were registered to vote online by the end of the night. “Our hope with these events is that participating in the democratic process will become routine for students as we go into adulthood,” Williams said.
Students are very involved in the upcoming election in Bloomington-Normal. Illinois State University held a debate between 91st House District candidates Scott Preston and Sharon Chung, and Governor candidates Darren Bailey and J.B Pritzker. Many students from ISU, IWU and Heartland Community College were present at both debates.
“Apathy for politics is common in the United States, but, as I’ve been happy to remind my peers, there is a lot riding on this election,” Williams said.