Ahead of the general election, California universities including Cal State Fullerton, are competing in the California University and College Ballot Bowl, an event that runs from Monday, Aug. 10, all the way through Election Day.
The event encompasses all California Universities and Colleges including California Community Colleges, California State Universities, Universities of California and Independent Colleges and Universities in the state of California.
Students can earn points for their college or university by registering to vote to award their school as the champion of the Ballot Bowl. Points are earned by completing a variety of tasks.
Gabriel Dima-Smith, director of government relations and advocacy at the Office of Government and Community Relations at CSUF, spoke about the Ballot Bowl and its overall importance.
“Our whole purpose of this program is to encourage students to register to vote,” Dima-Smith said. “We’re competing against every other campus across the state of California.”
He added that in the past, CSUF came in second place and the school is hoping to achieve first place this time around.
There are overall five categories that count towards accumulated points for the Ballot Bowl including the number and percentage of students who registered to vote for the respective college campuses, the amount of the student voting plans submitted and the amount of civic voter and empowerment action plans that were submitted at the specific campus.
To track these numbers, the California Secretary of State Students Vote Project uses a variety of resources including online and paper voter registrations, college student voting plan tools and even social media posts created by people and students on campuses.
“Our alumni is doing a Go Vote Proposition 101 event,” Dima-Smith said. “It’s a virtual event, so any student can participate because we think not only do you need to register a vote, you probably should get information about the propositions and things on the ballot as well.”
A “Voto Latino” specific event will take place Oct. 7 at CSUF in collaboration with the Diversity Initiatives and Resource Centers (DIRC). The event will consist of a conversation about civic engagement and Latino culture, voting and advocacy.
Also in accordance with the Ballot Bowl is the “Titans Turnout” event on Oct. 19 in which tabling events will occur alongside Tuffy appearances as a DJ to motivate people to register to vote.
“(The Ballot Bowl) is not just about being registered to vote. It’s about hopefully being your own advocate,” Dima-Smith said. “Being knowledgeable about our political process and civics here in our country will give you an opportunity to shape it in a way that’s beneficial to you.”
Campuses are also awarded for time spent competing in this event and can earn a variety of Ballot Bowl Champion titles such as the Social Media Impact Award and a number of other campus recognitions for challenges completed.
“If you don’t vote, other people are determining what your outcomes in your future look like, not you.” Dima-Smith finished.
Polling locations at CSUF are located at Titan Student Union and Portola Pavilion C. These will open for voting on Saturday, Oct. 31 and the last day for students to register to vote is Oct. 19 ahead of Election Day on Nov. 3.