In the 2022 congressional election in New York’s 19th District, Marc Molinaro (R-NY) eked out a win over Democrat Josh Riley by just 1.5 points, or 4,495 votes.
In 2020, Cornell had 18,498 eligible voters, more than four times the margin that earned Molinaro his congressional victory. Student groups, cognizant of the potential power of Cornell’s voting population, have been working to mobilize the student vote for both local and national races.
Cornell Votes
Founded in 2020, Cornell Votes is a nonpartisan organization on campus involved in civic engagement with the goal of educating and mobilizing students to vote.
In the first three weeks of the semester, Cornell Votes engaged over 1,500 voters. President Camille Simmons ’25 said she finds tabling to be the most effective way to reach as many students as possible. Cornell Votes also responds to student questions sent to its email address, [email protected].
Cornell Votes also recently launched the Voting Ambassadors Program, which trains students to become certified to register voters and request absentee ballots in a non-partisan manner. 30-minute training sessions are held every other Thursday.
This year, Cornell Votes’ goal is a 90 percent registration rate on campus and a 75 percent voting rate among students. This would mark an increase from 2020, the previous presidential election year, where the Cornell student registration rate was 82.1 percent and the voting rate was 66.1 percent, according to a June 2024 report from the National Study of Learning, Voting and Engagement.
“I vote in every single election I’m eligible for,” Simmons said. “It’s so important because we have a voice, and this is our government giving us a voice, and if we don’t use it, we lose it. This is our chance to have that voice, and we need to utilize it. Every vote genuinely does matter.”
Cornell Votes and Pi Lambda Sigma will host a voter registration event on Oct. 1 from 5 to 7:30 p.m. outside Toni Morrison. Cornell Votes will also be tabling on Oct. 4 in the Mann Library lobby from 10:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. and at Anabel’s Grocery from noon to 7 p.m., and will host a Halloween-themed “Don’t Ghost Your Vote” event on Oct. 26. Most Cornell Votes events operate on a weekly basis and are publicized via the club’s Instagram.
Vote 4 Equality
An independent expenditure campaign of the Feminist Majority, Vote 4 Equality aims to mobilize students in congressional or presidential swing states to change their registration from their home address to their college campus address.
“Along with this, [we are] also just encouraging people to keep equality in mind when they’re voting, in particular reproductive access, which is a main focus of our campaign,” said Campus Coordinator Hannah Irvine ’25.
Vote 4 Equality at Cornell is encouraging students to register to vote in New York’s 19th congressional district and has endorsed Riley, who is once again facing off against Molinaro in a tightly-contested race. Its goal is to register around 4,000 students to vote, or about a quarter of the Cornell undergraduate population, by Oct. 25, the New York State voter registration deadline.
“If [around 4,000 students] changed their registration to the New York 19th district and voted for equality, which we would hope would mean Josh Riley, that would flip the House,” Irvine said. “We really see the only way to really write women into the U.S. Constitution is through the Equal Rights Amendment, which can only be achieved if we have a Democratic majority in Congress.”
Vote 4 Equality tables every Thursday on Ho Plaza from noon to 2 p.m. and will also be tabling outside Toni Morrison on Oct. 3 from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Ballots in Black
Operating under the umbrella of Black Students United and headed by Political Action Co-Chairs Eva Vanterpool ’27 and Seth Vieira ’26, Ballots in Black was founded with the goal of empowering and enfranchising Black students.
“A lot of what our campaign is about is education toward the goal of registration,” Vieira said. “We’re focused on making sure people feel empowered in whatever decision they make, so whatever voice they have, we want that to be heard.”
BSU hosted a voter registration event with Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. on National Voter Registration Day on Sep. 17, where they helped over 150 people register to vote or request absentee ballots.
Ballots in Black will co-host a Vice Presidential Debate watch party with the Black Ivy Pre-Law Society on Oct. 1 from 8:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. at Ujamaa Residential College. They also plan to co-host an event with SoulAAn Nation on Oct. 10 exploring the historic importance of the African American vote, with additional information to follow on their Instagram.
“The right to have a say in your democracy is also like the right to humanity. For me, that’s what it is,” Eva Vanterpool ’27 said.
Cornell Democrats
Cornell Democrats registered voters at ClubFest, as well as at their Presidential debate watch party. The group plans to continue registering Cornellians in hopes they vote blue in November’s election.
Before then, in mid-October, Cornell Democrats, along with democratic student groups at Harvard, Yale, UPenn and Temple University, plan to travel to Pennsylvania to canvas door-to-door in as many red districts as possible in support of the Harris-Walz campaign.
Within Cornell Democrats is CornellForHarris, a subcommittee that serves as the University’s official chapter of Students for Harris-Walz.
In regards to congressional races, Cornell Democrats recently held a phone bank event with Asian Pacific Americans for Action and has also been canvassing on the weekends in the Ithaca area to campaign on behalf of Riley.
Cornell Democrats will host a Vice Presidential Debate watch party on Oct. 1, starting at 8 p.m. in 165 McGraw Hall, where voter registration forms will once again be available to attendees. They plan to table with Cornell Votes at Collegetown Bagels sometime in the upcoming weeks.
Cornell Republicans
Cornell Republicans did not respond to multiple requests for comment regarding their voter registration efforts.
For more information on voter registration, visit vote.cornell.edu, a collaboration between Cornell Votes and the Office of University Relations, and refer to previous Sun coverage for more specific information about registering to vote here in Tompkins County.