#DeacsDecide: Wake Forest Athletics Launches Voting Registration Initiative
8/14/2020 8:00:00 AM | General
In the continued effort of Athletics mission to provide a World Class Student-Athlete Experience, Wake Forest is hosting a student-athlete voter registration event on Aug. 17.
Forsyth County Voter Registration
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Wake Forest Athletics continues to empower its student-athletes to use their platform and promote social change. With that, Wake Forest will host a voter registration event on Aug. 17 for all of its student-athletes.
"It is our responsibility to teach, encourage and support our student-athletes to have an impact in our campus community, their hometown and nationally," Director of Athletics John Currie said. "Voting is still our most important civic duty, and we as administrators can easily emphasize the importance of our student-athletes' voices by supporting their right to vote and encouraging them to be heard. I would like to thank President Hatch, Provost Kersh, our coaches and staff for their support and hard work on this initiative."
Voter registration has been an important issue within the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) which spearheaded this event.
"SAAC is all about letting young people, specifically young student-athletes' voices be heard," explained SAAC president Emilia Migliaccio. "SAAC realized that educating student-athletes on the importance of voting was vital in reminding them how they can use their voice. Voting is a way for us to put our voices into action. Having a day that allows student-athletes to register to vote, plus get access to extra voting resources, prompts them to understand how much their voice matters. We can speak powerful messages, but without putting those words to action, there will not be any change."
The Forsyth County Board of Elections will staff the event which is scheduled to take place in Budd Gym inside the Miller Center on the Reynolda Campus from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Student-athletes are asked to bring their own pens and social distancing and health and safety protocols will be in place to ensure that student-athletes are able to register to vote in a safe environment.
Student-athletes who are interested in registering to vote in their home states will have the opportunity to do so.
"Our goal for this event," said Migliaccio, "is to get all eligible student-athletes registered to vote. Each SAAC leader is responsible for informing their teams on the protocol for the day. We want to provide extra resources on local elections, absentee ballots, why voting matters, etc. The intricacies of voting can seem intimidating and complicated — it did for me — but when you actually know how it works, it's easy to understand.
"On behalf of SAAC, I want to thank my fellow student-athletes, our administrators, coaches and the Wake Forest staff who have worked so hard to make this event a reality. I also want to thank our men's and women's basketball teams for their support by giving up their practice space for the day so we can host this event as safely as possible."
With fall sport preseason camps underway, a majority of fall sports teams will have already returned to campus and will be available to participate in the event.
Following the event in Aug., Wake Forest will be hosting an event for all students on Sept. 22 to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to exercise their right to vote this fall.
To register to vote, visit vote.org.
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