Bowling Green State University receives grant from Help America Vote College Program

Bowling Green State University has received $77,000 from the Help America Vote College Program. The C. Raymond Marvin Center for Student Leadership and Civic Engagement will utilize the funding to recruit and train about 300 students to become nonpartisan poll workers ahead of the November 2024 presidential election.

According to an article on Bowling Green State University’s website, Kendra Lutes, who serves as the associate director of the Marvin Center, discussed the grant and the lasting effect students will feel from taking part in the poll worker training initiative. Lutes was quoted as saying, “Working at the polls is such a unique way of giving back to the civic community. One day, our students may run for office, attend town hall meetings or advocate for issues to local representatives. Being a poll worker affords students an additional method to serve their communities in a valuable capacity.”

The two-year grant will support poll worker training through 2025. The Poll Worker Program will recruit and train about 300 eligible students to serve as poll workers. In order to be eligible for the program, students must be at least 17 years old and be registered to vote in Hancock, Huron, Lucas, Sandusky, or Wood county.

Recruitment efforts will include setting up tables around campus and will begin on the first day of the Fall 2024 semester, not ceasing until election day in November. Another similar but separate program exists on Bowling Green State University’s campus, called BGSU Votes. That program serves as a voter engagement program, also nonpartisan, and complements the Poll Worker Program.

Students who participate in the Poll Worker Program will also have access to resources from the C. Raymond Marvin Center for Student Leadership and Civic Engagement like multicultural sensitivity training, workshops, and nonpartisan practices.

“We want students to leave BGSU feeling connected to their democracy and feeling like they have agency over what happens in their community, state and our country. Becoming a poll worker deepens the relationship our students have with the community and affords them another opportunity to engage civically,” said Lutes.

Bowling Green State University is one of 21 recipients of this grant throughout the country, and is the only recipient located in the state of Ohio.

For more information about Bowling Green State University, visit the school’s website.