Student-run organizations Penn Leads the Vote and Vote That Jawn, which seek to cultivate civic engagement and boost voter registration, reflected on their efforts after the record-high turnout on Penn's campus for the 2024 election.
On Nov. 5, the four primary polling locations around Penn's campus saw a 450% increase in in-person voting relative to the 2020 election. In interviews with The Daily Pennsylvanian, members of PLTV and Vote That Jawn looked back at their voter registration initiatives leading up to Election Day and described their plans for future elections.
College senior and PLTV director Alyssa Antonian said that PLTV saw "quite a bit" of registrations on Election Day.
“[It's] both good because we want to make sure people are registered, but also unfortunate, since people will go to the polls and then realize they’re not registered like they might have thought they were,” she said.
Antonian recalled feeling frustrated by the waves of voting misinformation and doubt that spread around campus in advance of the election.
“I think some of the misinformation you see that we’ve run into is a lot of the times people saying you can’t vote here, you have to vote in your home state,” Antonian said. “That’s not true. We’ve had a general feedback in the past of people questioning why we emphasize that people register here in Philly to vote when we are here for only four years. Research has shown when you start doing it at this age, you continue for the rest of your life.”
Antonian described the organization's approach for this election cycle as “huge pushes toward … our overarching goal of 100% of eligible Penn students to be registered by 2028.”
She noted that many of the programs throughout the semester were aimed at reaching students who might otherwise not be familiar with PLTV messaging. The group planned collaborations with Penn Athletics, drives in College Houses, and information sessions for various clubs and cultural groups. On Election Day, PLTV set up tables by the LOVE statue and gave away stickers, donuts, coffee, cookies, pizza, and tote bags that students could screen print with equipment from the Stuart Weitzman School of Design.
PLTV began preparing for the election prior to the October registration deadline, including a celebration on National Voter Registration Day. The group then focused on informing students about what they could expect on Election Day, from how to fill out ballots to where polls were located around campus.
Antonian also detailed PLTV’s post-election meeting, in which members reviewed and evaluated strategies of this year. She said that getting more involved with news sources and other groups across campus is at the top of PLTV’s priorities for the next election.
While PLTV catered specifically to the Penn community, Vote That Jawn, a nonpartisan initiative created by Penn lecturer Lorene Cary, encouraged 19 to 21-year-olds from all across Philadelphia to vote.
Youth director and 2021 College graduate Carson Eckhard emphasized the inclusivity of their cause.
“Getting out the vote in Philly is something that transcends just Penn,” Eckhard said. “Part of the core mission is getting first time voters to vote. And in a lot of cases, that’s not college students, that’s actually high school students.”
Vote That Jawn calls on all young people in Philadelphia, from high schoolers to college students at Temple, Drexel, and the Community College of Philadelphia, to raise awareness for issues that matter most to them. Eckhard described the organization's strategy in three tiers: “getting out the youth vote,” “amplifying youth voices,” and “building a community of young people who are thinking about voting as the starting point for a lifetime of civic engagement.”
Eckhard said that the “culminating event” for the election season was Trend that Jawn — an event held at City Hall that she compared to a “pep rally” for spreading the word to vote.
“It’s a convergence of young people’s voices thinking about voting, talking about voting, and also the opportunity to register to vote,” Eckhard said.
Trend That Jawn hosted a variety of musicians, activists, and journalists to bridge the gap between young people and the rest of their community. 6abc News Anchor Rick Williams made an appearance at the event, announcing the creation of the Sheno Prize in memory of 2022 Penn graduate Erinda Sheno.
“It was a hell of an election season,” Eckhard said.
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