USG introduces a resolution to move courses onto Zoom on Election Day to make voting in-person easier for students. Credit: Casey Cascaldo | Lantern File Photo
Ohio State’s Undergraduate Student Government unanimously passed a resolution Wednesday night calling on the university to allow students to attend any lecture or recitation — except labs — virtually on Election Day in 2024.
Resolution 56-R-22, introduced by George Bernard, a first-year in finance and USG senator, is intended to encourage Ohio State students to vote in the 2024 federal elections. According to the resolution, “half of college students said they did not vote [in the 2016 election] due to a lack of time or conflict on Election Day.”
This year’s ballot will include the presidential election, several state legislature races and the election of one of Ohio’s U.S. senators.
“It is important for college students to have barriers removed, such as with scheduling conflicts for something as important as voting,” Bernard said. “Ohio State prides itself on providing an excellence in civics education to its students and to encourage civic engagement in all aspects of public life. Doing this will help serve students by allowing them to vote.”
With other institutions implementing policies allowing students to take absences or attend classes virtually on Election Day, such as the University of Cincinnati, American University and Stanford University, among others, resolution 56-R-22 argues that because students and instructors have had timely experience with digital classroom environments without a significant loss of learning, the passage of the resolution would not hinder learning initiatives.
Madelyn Davis, a third-year in marketing and USG senator, has been a poll worker for the last four years and said resolution 56-R-22 is “very near and dear” to her.
“I actually worked the last election here at OSU, and the lines were really long. At one point, [it took] over an hour and a half to get through,” Davis said. “Students were having to choose between getting out of line and not voting or risk missing class.”
Additionally, Davis herself ran into issues of her own while working the polls during the last election.
“As a poll worker, my grade was lowered because that did not count as an excused absence. I did reach out to a dean to resolve that issue and they said that it was unfortunate but that they were looking into making it count as an excused absence in the future,” Davis said.
While the resolution itself does not contain any specific language in regards to students serving as poll workers, the passage of the bill encourages Ohio State to allow anyone either voting or working in the 2024 election to attend class virtually.
USG Sen. Lily Evans, a third-year in history and political science, said USG has a responsibility to democracy.
“We have a duty as a general assembly and a duty to democracy to pass this bill,” Evans said.
