Mustangs Vote to Host Steve Simon, MN Sec of State on Oct. 15
Published Saturday, September 28, 2024
Campuswide Voter Initiative Brings Awareness to the Election Process
The Center for Civic & Community Engagement will host Steve Simon, the Minnesota Secretary of State, on Tuesday, October 15 from 4:00-5:15 pm in the Upper Conference Center at Southwest Minnesota State University. The event is free and open to the public.
Secretary Simon’s “Voting as Civic Engagement” presentation will be available in-person and via Zoom with pre-registration at the following link: https://minnstate.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_e-EA20cuTJG9zFQcJwUEzw
Secretary Simon will be speaking about the importance of voting as a civic duty and taking questions about the process and security of voting in Minnesota. Students will be able to submit questions during Mustangs Vote tabling on Oct. 9 and Oct. 14 as well as during the event. Associate Vice President for Government Relations and Advancement, Nathan Polfliet, will introduce Secretary Simon and moderate the Q & A portion of the program.
To support the Mustangs Vote initiative this fall, the Office of Civic & Community Engagement has two Student Election Engagement Fellows: Ashton Ayres and Mary Newton, who assist with tabling, information programs, and special events.
Ashton Ayres is a 2023 graduate of SMSU with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and minors in Philosophy and Public Administration. He is pursuing a Master of Business Administration degree.
“I decided to be an election fellow so I could encourage advocacy and voting for those who are new or haven’t engaged in elections,” said Ayres. “I’m eager to provide them with the resources they need to express themselves through voting.”
Mary Newton is majoring in Political Science with minors in Spanish and Pre-Law.
“I feel inspired to help those who haven’t registered to vote,” said Newton. “I want to help them [first-time voters] through the process and exercise their right to vote.”
In addition to the tabling and information programs the fellows conduct, they raise awareness among their fellow students. The fellows have served at SMSU for the past several presidential and mid-term elections. The success of the prior election efforts have recently been recognized on the state level.
On September 26, 2024, SMSU was announced as the winner of the Four-Year Minnesota State 2022 Democracy Cup award. SMSU’s voting rate for the 2022 midterm election cycle was 44.5% of eligible SMSU students voting. SMSU’s most recent presidential voting rate was 71.8% (2020) up from 66% in 2016. The SMSU Office of Civic & Community Engagement continues SMSU’s voter engagement initiatives through the Mustangs Vote Program for the 2024 presidential election year.
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