Meeting the Challenge of Democracy

"Voting is the first responsibility of citizenship," wrote Harvard President Larry Bacow last October. “Every vote—in every election—is a way to honor the sacrifices of our predecessors who mounted extraordinary efforts to see the franchise expanded to women, people of color, and young people. The right unexercised is, quite frankly, a history disregarded.”

This year, the spirit of President Bacow’s words are embodied by the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences’ (GSAS) Harvard Votes Challenge (HVC) team, a non-partisan group of student and staff volunteers who worked to improve voter participation among members of the GSAS and wider University community.

“In forming the HVC team, we built a community of individuals who care deeply about civic engagement, who helped to empower others with information to make voting easy and accessible,” says Jackie Yun, executive director of the Student Center at Harvard Griffin GSAS. “HVC team meetings were a great opportunity to hear about the collective efforts happening across programs, student groups, and offices. Each week I left feeling inspired by everyone’s passion and energy!” 

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HVC was founded in response to disappointing data. In 2016, only about 25 percent of eligible Harvard students voted in the United States presidential election—well below the national student average of 48.3 percent. In 2018, Harvard University’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation and Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics partnered to launch HVC and improve turnout for the 2018 midterm elections. The group had impressive success. About 38 percent of students at the College voted in the 2018 elections, a significant boost from 2016. 

In preparation for the 2020 election, each School at Harvard formed a team, coached by administrators and student leaders, charged with increasing civic engagement, voter registration, and voter turnout across the Harvard community. Last winter, GSAS partnered with the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences to assemble an HVC team that included four students and eight administrators. Their action plan centered around in-person events, including voter registration drives and debate-watch parties at the Student Center at Harvard Griffin GSAS. When COVID-19 hit, the team quickly shifted to a digital strategy, engaging the community through Zoom events, email, and social media campaigns that included: 

• An online voter pledge competition with Yale GSAS students (Guess who won?)
• Virtual “Get Out the Vote” text-banking sessions 
• Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter campaigns to encourage participation in the US Census, voter registration, and mail-in and in-person voting
• Visits to large lecture courses to raise awareness of HVC and encourage students to vote
• Lectures on “The Medical Practitioners Role in Promoting Civic Health” and on science-based approaches to combatting election disinformation and voter suppression  
• Virtual debate-watching parties and presentations to student groups
• Email messages from Dean Emma Dench, GSAS’s dean of students, directors of graduate studies, and departmental administrators encouraging members of the GSAS community to register and vote. 

Above all, the GSAS HVC team worked with staff throughout the School to share information and resources that made it easier to vote. Students who logged in to my.harvard.edu at the start of the fall term found links to TurboVote, the Harvard Kennedy School app that enables users to register online. And when students arrived at the GSAS residence halls, the HVC team was there with proof of residency letters and information about how to vote. 

“The GSAS/SEAS team collaborated with the FAS Registrar’s Office to integrate TurboVote into the annual check-in process,” says Shelby Johnson, assistant director of student affairs, “so all GSAS students got seamless access to voter registration information.” 

The HVC team was diligent but they had fun too. In addition to the canvassing and communications, they held a Zoom party to discuss the film version of the hit Broadway show, Hamilton, complete with themed cocktails and mocktails and tri-corned craft hats for kids.

"I’ve really enjoyed working with the HVC team,” says Lucas Buyon, a PhD student in biological sciences in public health. “It lets me leverage my side-passion for civic engagement to help my fellow GSAS students vote.” 

With the 2020 presidential election over, the GSAS Harvard Votes Challenge team is looking to the future. The group wants to continue its efforts to help members of the School’s community engage in democracy at all levels. 

“The goals of the group do not change after the presidential election,” says Johnson. “Democracy will continue to call us to make our voices heard. We will still gather to campaign for 100 percent voter registration, engagement, and turnout, and we will continue to seek thoughtful and effective ways to connect with our campus and the local community.”

And, of course, continue to challenge Yale in 2022! 

Photos courtesy of Harvard Votes Challenge