The Harris-Walz campaign has partnered with College Democrats of Wisconsin to host a University of Wisconsin Welcome Week, a series of events aiming to mobilize student voters, according to the campaign. Welcome Week will continue from move-in and orientation through the first week of classes, according to the campaign.
City of Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway said the campaign has launched the Welcome Week campaign in 20 Wisconsin campuses, and the event invites students to make friendship bracelets for Harris, join tabling sessions and play bingo.
“… Turnout on campus is definitely a critical thing that we see,” Rhodes-Conway said. “We at the city have done a lot of work to partner — particularly with UW–Madison — to make sure that folks on campus have a lot of opportunity to register and to vote.”
The City of Madison has made early voting sites available on the UW campus and helps students get the necessary paperwork in order to register to vote, Rhodes-Conway said.
Because most students move to a new address every school year, they may face barriers in re-registering and obtaining proof of Wisconsin residency, Rhodes-Conway said. But, Rhodes-Conway said young people are more politically engaged than ever due to the many issues on the ballot that impact them.
“Issues like reproductive rights and freedoms, issues like LGBTQ+ equality, issues like climate change … all of these things are having impacts on people’s day to day lives,” Rhodes-Conway said.
Besides voting, students can stay politically engaged through joining partisan organizations or a local government committee, Rhodes-Conway said. The City of Madison also invites students to contact their city council or county representative, Rhodes-Conway said.
Rhodes-Conway said she encourages students to, before voting, find out what issues are on the ballot and what each candidate represents.
“Obviously I’m supporting Kamala Harris for president and Tammy Baldwin for Senate because I really believe that the work that they have done and the work that they will do speaks to the issues that young people care about,” Rhodes-Conway said.
The Harris-Walz campaign has also launched a Welcome Back to Campus microsite that includes a letter from Harris addressed to college students and resources for registering to vote, according to the campaign.
