Hopkins makes class on Election Day optional to boost student voting rates
Reporting about the SGA, not a record of it: The Johns Hopkins News-Letter published this and the SGA did not write it, file it, or approve it. The archive holds it because the article itself uses the phrases “sga” and “student government”.
Summary
- This News-Letter article covers University steps to support student voting on Election Day.
- The News-Letter reported that President Ronald J. Daniels made Nov. 3 classes optional and asked faculty to record lectures; employees could also take up to two hours of paid time off to vote.
- The paper reported that 55.8% of eligible Hopkins students voted in 2016, up from 42.5% in 2012, according to a 2018 report.
- The article says Hopkins Votes helped students register, understand voting rules and deadlines, request and track mail-in ballots, and find local polling places.
- The reporter writes that the SGA partnered with Hopkins Votes on initiatives including a Voter Guide 101 website.
- The article adds that Senior Class Senator Keidai Lee worked on a video about voting in different countries, saying, “The point of the video was to show different places and how they vote. Some people don’t have the right to vote. We wanted to say not only the right to vote is special, but also it’s not accessible to everyone here at home.”