Ventura County Registrar of Voters, Michelle Ascencion and Political Science Lecturer Tim Allison give a lecture to a political science
class.
It is a well-documented fact that college-educated people are more likely to vote and become actively engaged in their communities. It is therefore unsurprising that many 华体会 faculty consider it part of their mission to teach students the nuts and bolts of democracy so they can make informed choices at the ballot box鈥攑articularly in 2024.
At least 64 countries, including the U.S. and the European Union, will head to the polls in 2024, making it the largest number of people ever to vote somewhere in the world鈥攁bout half the global population.
鈥淲e haven鈥檛 had this great moment of upheaval in generations,鈥 said 华体会 Political Science Lecturer Tim Allison. 鈥淟ike the days surrounding Pearl Harbor or Watergate, today's headlines require us to cast an informed ballot if we care about democracy.鈥
Katherine Elder
Assistant Professor of Communication Katherine Elder feels the same way. She teaches a class called Political Communication, in which she covers elections, debates, the press, campaigns, political communication theories, navigating social media, and more.
Ventura County Registrar of Voters, Michelle Ascencion speaks to the class.
鈥淲e have this uncommonly polarized election coming up,鈥 Elder said. 鈥淚 think this is an opportunity in real time for students to evaluate and analyze the messages flying around in our social and political world.鈥
Elder and Allison require their students to volunteer for a campaign of their choice to familiarize them with phone banking, social media posting, drafting opinion editorials, or working with campaign staff.
鈥淲orking on this campaign was an eye-opening and amazing learning experience,鈥 one student wrote when reflecting on the experience. 鈥淚t really helped me better understand how a campaign is run, especially at a municipal level.鈥
Lecturer Tim Allison
Allison teaches a course called 鈥淐ampaigns and Elections,鈥 in which he demystifies the voting process and familiarizes students with the mechanics of a political campaign, often with guest speakers like former Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko, and Ventura County Registrar of Voters, Michelle Ascencion.
鈥淚t鈥檚 important to remember that not every state does their voting processes the same way,鈥 Ascencion told the 鈥淐ampaigns and Elections鈥 class. 鈥淰ote by mail, for example, is very secure in California because every ballot has to be signed, and when you mail it, your vote is locked in, and you can鈥檛 vote again in person.鈥
Hearing from Ascencion was enlightening to students like Jasmine Williams.
鈥淚 really didn鈥檛 know voting by mail was that secure,鈥 Williams said. 鈥淗earing that from the voting registrar鈥檚 perspective, I feel a lot safer voting by mail than in person.鈥
Faculty members in these courses do not share their political leanings but seek to empower their students by teaching them critical thinking skills so they can develop their own views.
鈥淭eaching people about how democracy works is critically important right now, especially for young people,鈥 Allison said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 care if they鈥檙e Republican, Democrat, Green Party, or anything else鈥擨 just want them to be educated.鈥