Last week, Baldwin Wallace University invited students to participate in fun and educational activities as a part of National Voter Education Week. 

These activities, such as trivia, painting and bingo, aimed to teach students about different aspects of voting and politics in America. Free food and chances to win a variety of prizes were provided to encourage an engaging atmosphere. 

BW’s Brain Center for Community Engagement was responsible for putting on these events throughout the week. Derek Larner, the student director of the Jackets Engagement Team described the annual program at BW, and emphasized the importance of college students being educated on these matters, such as how to register to vote. 

“A lot of our student base are commuter students, out of state students who don’t have access to all the necessary materials to go vote, all the processes of how to get registered to vote, how to cast a mail ballot or an absentee ballot or a provisional ballot,” Larner said. “I think that’s really important to get those students out and informed.” 

Larner said that, now more than ever, in light of recent events, it is vital to have safe places to engage in political discourse, which is another reason why the Brain Center for Community Engagement hosted these events. 

“We are just coming off of the murder of Charlie Kirk and the polarization around that, around the issue of political violence and political discussion,” Larner said. “I think it’s opened up a lot of people’s eyes as to what it looks like to not have an environment where you can speak out and be passionate about issues you care about. I’m just hoping that students feel like they have a platform to speak out no matter what side of the aisle you’re on.”  

BW’s National Voter Education Week programming included events such as Political Trivia Night, Paint & Politics, Political Bingo, and the Democracy and Dialogue Summit.