Candidate Forum
Nationwide, voter turnout rates are vastly unequal between households with higher and lower family incomes, with high income households voting at a much higher rate. Thousands of families within CommUniverCity’s service area have a household income of under $35,000 per year. We hoped to increase political participation of our community with this project so they could better advocate for high priority concerns. In partnership with SJSU Votes!, students in Professor Mary CurrinPercival’s Political Participation Class (POLS 108) organized a candidate forum for Ann Ravel and Dave Cortese, the candidates who ran for State Senate District 15.
An entire student team collaborated behind the scenes to monitor live questions asked by the audience to select the most appropriate ones to relay to the moderator, NBC Bay Area TV reporter Damian Trujillo. A special effort was made to reach out to the Spanish-speaking community including creating a promotional flyer in Spanish, as well as introducing the event in Spanish. All of the organizers’ hard work paid off according to the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters (ROV). 53% of eligible registered voters countywide voted early, surpassing those in the state (41.9%) and nation elections (35.5%). On October 31st, 540,000 ballots were received, more than double the number from 2016.
Project Impacts
Residents learned about each candidate’s position on important issues and were better prepared to make a well-informed decision at voting time
Residents took a role in the political process with 8 questions and responses from candidates on subjects ranging from neighborhood trails to COVID-19 guidelines
Students increased their awareness of political and social issues and strengthened their commitment to civic engagement by organizing a public event
Students Engaged
Residents Engaged
Hours of Student Service
Value
Faculty Lead
Mary Currin-Percival (Political Science)