An Election Engagement Project

No one who lived through it will be likely to forget the tumultuous election of 2020, but for a dozen Gannon University students, the experience might extend beyond the merely indelible into the realm of the transformative.

It certainly feels that way to Nathan Manion. A junior political science major from Columbus, Ohio, Manion is one of about 350 students nationwide selected as a fellow of the Campus Election Engagement Project, a national nonpartisan project to engage students at colleges and universities in federal, state and local elections.

Manion has been conducting voter education events for students, including a voter literacy workshop co-sponsored by Gannon’s Center for Social Concerns that provided information on candidates and issues, and explained how and where to register and cast ballots.

(L-R) Nathan Manion, Jeff Bloodworth, Ph.D. and Emily Hall

“This year, we've stressed the importance of making a plan to vote,” Manion said, adding that ”voting to an outsider who isn’t politically engaged is already complicated, but more so during a pandemic when people might think not voting is an easier alternative.”

Emily Hall, Gannon's other CEEP fellow, was on the other end of the get-out-the-vote equation among a group of Gannon students hired by the Erie County Board of Elections to process ballots.

“You can’t overstate her impact,” Erie County Clerk of Elections Doug Smith said of her contribution. “You sometimes hear it said that younger people don’t get involved (in politics), but someone like Emily is the total antithesis of that. She’s very involved and has some pretty big dreams.”

Those dreams were nurtured in the university's new School of Public Service & Global Affairs. By bringing together the disciplines of history, languages, legal studies and political science, PSGA students get what the School's co-director Jeff Bloodworth, Ph.D., called “high-impact experiential learning that's injected into the academic qualities of these existing disciplines.”

When the request for help came from Erie County government, Bloodworth, the campus advisor for the CEEP program, said he had no trouble finding students eager to step forward.

It’s easy to be cynical and say that students don’t vote, and that Gannon isn’t a hotbed of political activism, but [these students] are hungry to apply what they’re learning in class and do something

“It’s easy to be cynical and say that students don’t vote, and that Gannon isn’t a hotbed of political activism, but [these students] are hungry to apply what they’re learning in class and do something,” Bloodworth said.

Nathan Manion said he hopes his experience in the historic 2020 election cycle can inspire other students to become politically engaged. He urged them to “set aside partisanship and find an issue to care about and become invested in it. Politics makes you moreaware of other people. Yes, politics is about electing leaders, but it's also a vehicle for you look out for your community in a way that you can’t do if you’re not engaged.”

Smith concurred.

“If you don’t get involved, you’re giving away a piece of your personal power—and a piece of your freedom,” Smith said. “It’s like letting other people order what’s for lunch, but you end up paying the bill.”