Anna Benson, a junior at the College of Charleston, admits that she’d never really given much thought to how elections actually run — until this semester, that is. Now a student in the 40-person Democracy in Action course at CofC, Benson knows the ins and outs of the process.
Democracy in Action, otherwise known as POLI 339, is a nationally recognized partnership between the College of Charleston and the Charleston County Board of Voter Registration and Elections (BVRE). This special topics course is focused on teaching students how to become civically involved, including practical skills like how to operate poll equipment, and training to become poll workers on Election Day.
“Prior to taking this class, I had not thought that deeply about the preparation, organization, and responsibility that goes into ensuring elections run smoothly and that everyone has the ability to cast their vote,” Benson tells Her Campus. “These experiences have given me valuable insight into the election process and civic engagement in general, making me very excited to work the polls on Election Day.”
Democracy in Action is led by Jordan Ragusa, a political science professor at CofC. “Above all else, my goal was to just get them outside the classroom, get them involved, and do some kind of meaningful experiential learning,” he says. Ragusa first developed a smaller version of this class two years ago with a colleague; however, this is the first full version of the course, complete with two sections to be offered at the school. So far, the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.
“I think the misperception is that young people aren’t interested in politics,” Ragusa says. “They are. It’s just sometimes they need a nudge to get involved in the process, because they don’t know exactly how it works. They see a lot of the arguments. They see that politics is really heated. It can be downright scary at times. But this is a non-partisan way that they can get involved and give back.”
Hillel Powell, a junior poli-sci major at CofC, says the real-world experience was a major draw for taking this course: “I wanted to better understand how American democracy functions beyond what we typically learn in the classroom.”
And that’s exactly what the class delivers. Earlier in the semester, the class participated in an on-campus voter registration drive, speaking to students and non-students alike about registering to vote, early voting, absentee ballots, and more. “It was interesting to actually talk with students about voting and see how differently people approached the registration process,” says junior Laney Barno. “Some students were already registered in their hometowns and wanted to continue voting there, while others were interested in changing their registration to Charleston. It showed me that even among college students, voting is not always as straightforward as people might assume.”
And on Nov. 3, these students will take to the polls as official poll workers, opening the booths in the morning, checking voters in and issuing ballots, helping voters when questions arise, keeping things organized and efficient, and fulfilling plenty of other tasks that keep democracy running.
Ragusa hopes his course’s impact extends beyond just this specific election. “There’s some evidence that maybe it’s getting harder to recruit poll workers, and the thinking is that one reason may be the people don’t want to be involved in this process that has become so controversial and so heated,” Ragusa says. “So it’s important to have a stable group of people that will work the polls in any given election. And young people are really underrepresented in that process.”
Ragusa also believes the course is opening students’ eyes to different career paths in the political space. “There is an entire world of careers [in] election administration,” he says. “For political science majors, who are always thinking about, ‘What am I going to do with a degree in political science if I’m not interested in law school?’ I want them to see that there is a world where they could have an entire career working in elections.”
Whether or not students pursue election work professionally, this course has indeed been eye-opening. “I’m taking away that there are actually real people behind these things that we talk about in our classes, and that we could be one of them, and that we are choosing to be one of them. And that’s the greatest thing and the greatest experience I definitely could have asked for,” junior Allie Johnson says. Another junior, Johnny Barbato, says he’d like to see this course taught to even more students, “maybe even high school levels, when people are turning 18 or going to be able to vote.” He adds, “I feel like it also builds a sense of civic duty or even participation.”
Amid a tense, heated election cycle, this class has brought students from the College of Charleston together across party lines, while centering participation in, and protection of, democracy. “Our voices matter so much right now, because so much is on the line,” says junior Emily Mastrorocco. “Learning about democracy and how much it matters, how much politics is so intertwined with our everyday lives, it’s just really interesting. Our goal is to make the world a better place, in general. So, there’s no better way to do that than to start participating in voting in your own country.”