Both September and October heard liberty ring through Elgin Community College as the student government facilitated opportunities for students to register and vote. The driving initiative of these registration events can best be described by student body President Jesus Martinez who says; “We want to emphasize the importance of voting because the decisions that are going to be made during the new president’s term…will have a big impact…”

No doubt a large scale event such as this must have been difficult to coordinate. Undeterred however, the Student Government, their adviser Gaea Atta and staff from Student Life among others, saw to the success of this initiative.

President Martinez affirms that student turnout was not meek, with roughly eighty newly registered voters. The Student Government staff adopted responsibilities such as  providing information on local candidates, answering questions and clearing confusion all alongside their goal of running a smooth polling operation.

Overall, the registration events provided students with an easily accessible way to involve themselves in both local and national politics while also educating them on registration procedures.

When asked to critique the events, or address his thoughts, President Martinez responded; “We believe that this event was a success. Like anything in the world, we learn from our experience. We were able to evaluate how this event went and took notes of improvements or things to reconsider to host this again in the future.”

Needless to say the events allowed for many students, potentially previously unmotivated to register, an opportunity to actively participate in the local and national civic activity that is, voting.