Andy Morgan, Matt Caffrey, and third-year Joseph Lesser canvass just outside of Traditions at Scott to encourage voting participation from students. Credit: Emma Kolick | Lantern Reporter
Ham4Progress — an activist organization composed of numerous cast and crew members from the touring production of the award-winning musical “Hamilton” — canvassed on campus Thursday in an effort to bolster voter turnout.
Since voter participation often falters significantly in midterm elections, Andy Morgan, social responsibility manager for Hamilton, said Ham4Progress aims to highlight the importance of the Nov. 8 midterm elections in Ohio and around the U.S.
“Now more than ever, we need people on this non-presidential year to go out and vote and secure our democracy,” Morgan said. “Having conversations about the issues, making it personal and spreading the information is the best way to increase turnout.”
Morgan said he believes the protections of key issues, such as LGBTQ+ and reproductive rights, will likely be determined by the results of November’s election.
Morgan said he suggests voters research their state’s voting process and verify that their registration is up to date before Election Day.
“It’s as easy as going to ham4progress.com and plan, pledge or register to vote,” Morgan said. “You can check your voter registration status and do everything you need.”
By placing personal information into Ohio’s Voter Lookup online page, students can easily verify their voting precinct, polling location and registration status in order to streamline and simplify the voting process.
The voter registration deadline for November’s general election passed Oct. 11, but voters can check their status or register for later elections online or through their local Board of Elections.
A multitude of other organizations joined Ham4Progress outside Traditions at Scott Thursday.
Matt Caffrey, a senior director of the political group Swing Left, said the upcoming midterm election will be important for students.
“Every part of students’ future is on the ballot,” Caffrey said. “I think students know that it’s all on the line this year and they have the power to decide who wins this election.”
He said he believes government accountability has declined over the years but exercising the right to vote can counteract this, and students should actively work to increase voter turnout through a variety of actions, such as making their own plans to vote and encouraging others.
“Make calls, knock on doors. But more than anything, just check in with your people and make sure that they’re voting,” Caffrey said. “That is critically important and can entirely change the outcome of the election.”
According to Ohio’s Secretary of State website, individuals can vote in three different ways — by mail through absentee ballots, voting early in person or going to one’s assigned polling location to vote on Nov. 8. In order to vote in Ohio, photo ID or other acceptable forms of identification are required for a ballot to be counted.
