Vote 4 Equality is a network of women on College Campuses attempting to sway the vote of college students towards women focused issues. They have been operating on the Gettysburg College Campus since last year (2024) and wish to encourage voting in this upcoming judicial election in Pennsylvania. I had the wonderful opportunity to interview the Vote 4 Equality President, Marisa Conners, and Vice President, Maddie Maier.
Interviewer: Hi there, my name is Meg Green. I am the secretary for Her Campus at Gettysburg College. If you could just introduce yourselves that would be great.
Marisa: Hi I’m Marisa, I am the president for the Vote 4 Equality club on campus, and in terms of the Feminist Majority I am the Campus Coordinator for Gettysburg College.
Maddie: Hi I’m Maddie, I’m a senior at Gettysburg. I am a Campus organizer for Vote 4 Equality and I have worked with them before but this is my first time working with Feminist Majority on campus.
What is Vote 4 equality’s main goal or role on Campus?
Marisa: Okay, so our main goal is to basically turn out the student vote on Campus, specifically young women. Cause we know that they tend to vote progressive, they tend to vote for the candidates that Feminist Majority has endorsed. We also know that college students are at a higher risk of being disenfranchised because there is a lot of moving states or people just turned 18, especially for First-Years. So getting information out to them is really important.
Maddie: It’s also important cause a lot of times, on campus people don’t know that they can vote in the state that they go to school in. They also don’t know what the election is about, especially now where this is not a big primary or big election. It is only for Pennsylvania specifically, so the voter turnout will be a lot less than for a presidential election. And its very important for students to be made aware that there is an election. This election is very important to the people and you, as someone who is living here for the next 4 years. That’s super important to us. We get students registered and get students to pledge themselves that they are going to vote on November 4th.
when was Vote 4 equality founded and why?
Marisa: The club on campus or the main organization?
Interviewer: A little bit of both, the club and the organization as a whole.
Marisa: I know the club on campus, we were founded about a month ago cause we wanted to be able to operate within the college as an institution, so we are able to book and host events, use campus resources, and advertise on campus. But we also did run last year, just not in an official capacity. But we were still working for Feminist Majority, which is a non-profit based in DC. And so they’ve hired us to do this work, this year we are also founded here as a club on Gettysburg College. I’m actually not sure about the founding of the campaign.
Maddie: Basically, Vote 4 Equality has been around for a while as branch of the Feminist Majority Foundation. The foundation itself was founded in the 70s by Eleanor Smeal. If you don’t know her, look her up she’s awesome, she is still the president of the organization. They have tons of branches for different feminist movements, they have sections that work abroad, they have sections that work on abortion rights, immigration, the Equal Rights Amendment, etc. We, ourselves, have obtained Miss Magazine which is a magazine started by Gloria Steinem and since obtaining it we have published every season. It’s a very, very famous magazine.
Marisa: We were definitely operating on college campuses across the country last year during the 2024 election. I also know that there was some organizing in 2017 Virginia State house elections, so it could potentially go that far back. I know it’s also related to other political movements that Feminist Majority has done in the past.
How does Vote 4 Equality help Gettysburg College Students vote on Campus?
Maddie: Like I said before, our main mission is to get people aware that there is an election and getting people to vote is an important value of our democracy. And educating students on campus is important, cause everyone that passes may not support what we are trying to deliver, like getting these judges retained, but it just more about letting them know that their is an election, you have the right to vote, and spreading the information about why we should retain these judges and how do they protect women’s rights and the rights of Pennsylvanians. And I think that more than getting people pledging, getting people aware is so important.
Marisa: Last year it was a completely different battle because it was a 2024 presidential election, so like everyone knew it was happening, everyone was sick of hearing about it. So this year it is a completely different fight, it’s not ‘vote for our candidates’, it’s ‘please be aware that this is happening’. Usually the way that we operate is, before the voter registration deadline of October 20th we will be mostly working in a non-partisan capacity, so just handing out voter registration forms for Adams County, PA. We hand them out every time we table, we have voter pledges, and have a reminder that we do have an election this year. After October 20th, we will have two weeks leading up to the election. We will begin giving out more partisan materials, saying these are the issues that are important to us, if they are important to you than this is who you should vote for and what you should do.
How can Gettysburg students find information about candidates and their platforms before elections?
Marisa: There are a few things that were really great that I went to that have already passed. The Public Policy Departments, the Eisenhower Institute, and other departments on campus hosted the School Board Candidate forums, one for the special election and another for the regular election. They have 8 candidates going to fill 4 seats. And two weeks ago, they had a more local judicial election and the candidate’s for that one came and had their debate as well. And so those were really great ways to do it, I was there and took notes. So if people are looking for information, I would be able to provide those. And then in terms of the bigger state candidates, they have a bit more of a platform, cause it is less local, so if you would like to look up Pennsylvania Judicial Retention Election, there would be some information. I know that Feministmajority.org will have them on there as endorsed candidates and would have more information on there as well. But people might also want something that’s non-partisan so that’s fair.
Maddie: Outreach on campus, especially ours, is important. We have a lot of tabling that we are doing, not only to get people registered to vote but to explain to them what we’re doing. Also, social media is a gateway to this. I know that the Feminist Majority Instagram has all the information about the Virginia election and the Pennsylvania election and I’m pretty sure our social media has information about them too.
Marisa: It does or it will, as we can become a little more partisan with our activities after October 20th. If you all follow our Instagram you will get to see our feature Friday’s, in which we have campus leaders on there every Friday talking about why this election is important and why voting is important, and why staying engaged is important.
Maddie: People have been very lovely about participating with that.
How can people stay informed about current events?
Maddie: I took a class last semester in which we had to come every week with a current events article from a different news source from every single one. So that way you have to read different news sources, even ones you didn’t agree with. And I think that best way to stay informed is just to expand. Don’t just read headlines, read the meat of the article and don’t just get your news from one source. A lot of people get their news from social media and I don’t think that is very smart. A lot of things can be misconstrued and I think just be getting back on that train of reading our news instead of just listening to it.
Marisa: Something that Maddie touched on a little bit, especially with everyone getting their information from social media. Critical thinking is so important. If there is something that is making you really mad and is making you feel a certain way about it, chances are it might be for clicks or for money instead of to inform you. They could even be just exaggerating something that is true, so their are a lot of things right now that can be stressful, that can be angry, and they are true, but think about the way they are presented. Think about a way that an article is being written and that might make you feel one way or another. And something that my favorite history teacher from high school told us, cause it was more of a current events and modern history class, was that you had to have an opinion. He didn’t care what your opinion was, but if there’s an issue that were talking a lot in class about, you need to have a stance on it because that shows that you are paying attention and that you understand all of the differing arguments. And this is not to say that you need to be active on every single issue or have a very strong stance on every single issue. This is just to say that ‘oh, this makes sense and this doesn’t. My values are here and this is where this is, so that way I agree with it.’ If you are sitting something out, than that means that whoever has the power or the status quo gets to stay, so that’s taking a side.
Maddie: I also think that its just important for people. I also agree, you don’t have to be an expert on everything, its exhausting. My realm is domestic policy, I have no idea what’s going on outside in the world, but I try to have a basic understanding. It is important to catch up on basic news, maybe your local news, what’s going on in your neighborhood, country, and state. But, I ultimately agree with Marisa.
Marisa: And that’s another great thing. If you pay attention to what’s going on in your local community and there’s something you don’t like going on, then there is more of a chance that you have to change it cause there’s less people, there’s more connections that you have, there’s more of a chance that something small you do will make a difference. Cause no matter what you do it will contribute to making a difference, but on a local level it will be felt so much sooner and on a much bigger scale. So, I also definitely encourage that. Don’t just pay attention to the state election, definitely vote down the ballot, but also care about what’s going on in your community and look around.
What are some important dates we should know about?
Marisa: Gosh! November 4th is election day, that’s like the most important one. We wanna work backwards from there, October 28th is the last day that you can request a mail-in ballot for Adams County, which is where we are. So if anyone is from another state or place and are registered here in Gettysburg than that October 28th is the last day that they can request that their ballot be sent in the mail, otherwise they are gonna vote in person. And November 4th are also the day that mail in ballots are due. October 20th is the last day to register to vote in Adams County. In the coming weeks we have an event specifically targeted towards First-years, a few days before the deadline to register to vote. Again, the First-years are the ones who mostly likely moved states since the last election and they are least likely to be registered here, so we want to make sure that if they want to be voting here they have the resources for that. And we have a bunch of other events going on as well on Engage.
Maddie: And the voting will also be on campus is year. It is all in walking distance of wherever you are on campus. And they have to let everybody vote that is in line, so stay in line!
Some Resources for Gettysburg College Students about voting in the upcoming election:
guides.vote: For a nonpartisan voter guide to the PA judicial election
Gettysburg Vote 4 Equality Instagram Handle: @gburg_v4e