Q&A
Strategies to improve voter engagement at CUNY
0:50:27
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177 sec
Helen-Margaret Nasser, from Kingsborough Community College, details various strategies employed to improve voter registration and turnout among CUNY students.
- Nasser emphasizes the effectiveness of paper registration forms over digital methods.
- She mentions the importance of Voter Education Week and early voting opportunities.
- The discussion touches on the potential benefits of using CUNY campuses as early voting sites, though Council Member Brewer cautions about potential logistical challenges.
Helen-Margaret Nasser
0:50:27
Thank you for the question.
0:50:29
Yes.
0:50:29
The obstacles to registration, it takes persistence I find that the paper forms are a much more effective way to grab the students rather than saying, hey, take this link and cross your fingers that they'll continue to fill it out as they walk away.
0:50:45
I hold them at the table, let's say fill this out.
0:50:48
Right now, you know all the answers.
0:50:50
This is not complicated.
0:50:52
I do educate them when they're choosing a party to let them know that it could impact their participation in a primary election.
0:50:59
And then I take it and I put them in the mailbox.
0:51:02
So recognizing that, just that form of giving it to them, getting it to the post office, filling it out, those things get lost a lot of the time in in the hands of the students, unfortunately.
0:51:12
So they fill it out on the spot with me.
0:51:15
There's also something that's fairly new.
0:51:17
I think it's two or three years old now called voter education week, which now is a new national civic holiday from October 7th to 11th.
0:51:27
And it has several days each day has a theme and wanna, you know, make a plan to vote, understand the ballot is one day, know where you need to go to check your voter status or check your polling place, So I think making sure that our students are aware of those things prior to the election is a great timing.
0:51:47
And, also, the early voting does help tremendously.
0:51:50
So we're telling our students, look, you can start voting from now, taking again, anticipating any skews that they might come up with and say, okay.
0:51:58
You can't make it on election day.
0:52:00
No problem.
0:52:00
You can go here, here, here, and here on these days and make sure that your vote is cast.
0:52:06
So those types of things are beneficial.
0:52:09
I will confess that I'm a resident of Long Island.
0:52:12
And there, the voting early voting is different.
0:52:16
You can go to any voting site in your county.
0:52:21
So you're not assigned a voting site.
Gale Brewer
0:52:24
We're trying to get that here, but
Helen-Margaret Nasser
0:52:26
Yes.
0:52:26
And I think that that would help tremendously as well.
0:52:29
Because if I say, okay, Kingsborough students, we're going to vote early on these days, and we can take a a group of students to that designated location as a group.
0:52:38
I think that that would help tremendously as well because we're taking them to a concentrated pool site where all of our Brooklyn residents, for instance, could vote.
0:52:47
I also would love to see Kingsborough CUNY campuses as sites for early voting as well.
0:52:53
I think that that would help.
Gale Brewer
0:52:54
Well, the problem with that though is that they will then be taking over the gym, the cafeteria, or something for 9 days.
Junior E Andrews
0:53:01
Right.
0:53:01
And
Gale Brewer
0:53:01
before you know it, you're gonna have people complaining about that.
0:53:04
So I just warn you.
0:53:06
Thank you for learning.
0:53:07
Full out of schools
Denise Maybank
0:53:08
I see.
Gale Brewer
0:53:09
Schools right now.
0:53:10
So Yeah.
0:53:10
Be careful what you asked for.
Helen-Margaret Nasser
0:53:11
Sure.
0:53:11
Sure.
0:53:12
Thank you.
0:53:12
It would get the turn up out turnout up, though.
Gale Brewer
0:53:15
Yeah.
0:53:15
But we wouldn't be yeah.
0:53:17
You'd have other complaints.
0:53:18
Unless you can find a place is absolutely unused.
0:53:21
That you could have the site.
Erik Bottcher
0:53:23
Sure.
Helen-Margaret Nasser
0:53:24
Thank you.
Gale Brewer
0:53:24
Okay.
