Seawolves line up to sign up during National Voter Registration Day

By Gabby Daniels

As the 2024 presidential election approaches, Stony Brook University’s Center for Civic Justice wants to ensure that the student body is prepared to exercise its rights. 

The event held on Sept. 17, which is National Voter Registration Day, outside of Stony Brook’s Student Activities Center, students eagerly gathered in the plaza to be able to check their voter registration status, register if they have not already done so and learn more about important deadlines. 

With its first celebration in 2012, National Voter Registration Day is a nonpartisan civic holiday dedicated to celebrating the democracy of America. It helps people register to vote and educates communities on the topics at hand, as well as the current office members. Since its inception, more than 5 million Americans have registered.

“As I was walking back from class today, I saw that they were doing voter registration, and I said, ‘Oh, I should do it, too,’” said freshman Olivia Formicola.

“Having it on campus made it so much easier… I feel like I probably would not have done it if it was not here.” 

Evelyn Murphy, a student intern with the Center for Civic Justice, was thrilled with how the event was going. “We have had a great turnout today,” Murphy stated.

“So many people who I talked to today said they would not have registered if it was not convenient for them.” 

Murphy said the center wanted to ensure students had fun during the event as well.

“We do not just want people to register, but we want to make sure that they actually go out and vote on election day,” Murphy explained.

“We made sure that we added some silly things like ‘What fictional character would you vote for if they ran for president?’ and gave out stickers that say ‘Seawolves Vote,’ to take the pressure off and make people want to be here.” 

From an organizer’s standpoint, the whole point of the event was to get more students and young people to vote.

Linda Devin-Sheehan of the Suffolk County League of Women Voters partnered with the Center for Civic Justice to host the event. “The reason I am here is to get students registered,” Devin-Sheehan stated.

“We must fight for our democracy, and it starts with the younger generation.” 

Gabby Daniels is a reporter with The SBU Media Group, part of Stony Brook University’s School of Communication and Journalism’s Working Newsroom program for students and local media.