From hosting astronaut Steve Smith to running weekly voter registration drives, student organizations are working to increase civic engagement and awareness in preparation for the midterm elections next month.
One new initiative, Civics Week, hosted by StanfordVotes last week, featured speaker events that explored the current implications of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. StanfordVotes co-chair Maria Rueda ’28 said that beyond exploring current issues in voting rights, one of their priorities for the fall quarter was to ensure students properly completed voter registration and mail-in ballot applications, based on issues StanfordVotes observed with last-minute registrations this past spring.
“Voting rules are very difficult to understand. They’re complex. They’re different for every single state,” Helen Scarborough ’28, a co-chair of StanfordVotes, said. Beyond Civics Week, the group also aims to help students overcome such organizational barriers through their 50-state voter guide, and hosted weekly voter education and registration drives at On-Call Cafe.
Stanford students plan to vote in and out of California, with many opting to register for races closer to their hometowns.
“I’m keeping up with a lot of the very contentious races. Namely [in] the Senate,” said Sanjana Vadlapatla ’29, a public service co-lead for Stanford Women in Politics. With plans to mail her ballot to her hometown in West Texas, Vadlapatla emphasized the importance of staying educated and participating in elections at all levels, from local to federal positions.
Other students echoed this sentiment. “Even in a state like California that is pretty predictably blue, it’s really important to vote for down-ballot races,” said Supriya Patel ’28, who plans to vote in her hometown of Sacramento. “I think that we underestimate how important local elections are.”
In anticipation of election day and Stanford’s Democracy Day, various civic organizations are preparing events. The Stanford Political Review is moderating a student debate, the Stanford American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is hosting a workshop on exercising student free speech, and The Stanford Daily’s opinions section will lead a workshop on free expression writing.
“I think the true genius of Democracy Day is seeing all of these different civic organizations from a broad spectrum of sectors in society come together on this one day,” said Jadon Urogdy ’27, who chairs Democracy Day. He noted one of the main goals of the event is to take advantage of the varied backgrounds and ideologies that Stanford students bring to their shared civics organizations, enabling them to learn about citizenship in a way that persists beyond a single election cycle.
On the ground, the Stanford Democrats have taken students on canvassing trips throughout the Bay Area for state and federal representatives, with phone-banking events planned for elections across the United States.
“What I’m really big on emphasizing is making sure that Stanford students are able to break out of Palo Alto and get involved in real grassroots civics work,” Waleed Haider ’29, co-chair of the Stanford Democrats, said. “At Stanford Democrats, we want to make sure that we are winning elections for Americans that empower them, that make their lives better, and that we’re also looking forward towards the issues that we know are coming out of this campus in particular.”
Haider noted that the 2026 election would shape America’s future. Urogdy made a similar point, noting that the consequences of voting extend beyond just policy. Other students have identified the stability of democratic institutions as a primary concern going forward.
“There’s a lot of tension that builds up around election day,” said Urogdy. “But I think most importantly, we should recognize election day as a moment where we can celebrate the democratic process and come together and make sure that our friends and family show up to vote.”