From the president
Jakob Lucas, a junior at Denison University, is a driven and dedicated student with a passion for leadership and civic engagement. One of Jakob’s significant campus involvements rests in his co-coordination of DU Votes, Denison's non-partisan voter education and registration efforts. In his role, Jakob facilitates Denison’s voter education, registration and absentee ballot requests. DU Votes’ educational efforts include organizing and hosting events such as early voting transportation, absentee ballot preparation parties, and Ohio candidate forum watch parties. One particularly successful event was Drag Out the Vote, a collaboration between DU Votes and Denison’s LGBTQIA advocacy campus organization. As a result of Jakob’s leadership and the collective efforts of DU Votes, Denison University was included in Washington Monthly’s 2021 and 2022 Best Colleges for Student Voting Honor Roll. Additionally, the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge included Denison as an 2022 inaugural Most Engaged Campuses for College Student Voting.
Personal Statement
I became involved in civic education work volunteering on a local campaign during a special election. I frequently participated in phone banking, voter registration drives, and canvassing. While we did promote our candidate, the primary underlying purpose of these activities was education and awareness. We wanted to highlight the importance of being an active member of democracy and staying education on your representatives and issues in the area. As I progressed into college, I began working on more issue-based and nonpartisan civic education work. On campus, I found DU Votes and quickly fell in love with their mission becoming an active member and eventual co-coordinator of the organization. Our sole mission is to educate Denison students on the importance of democratic engagement and being an educated voter. We understand that it can be difficult and even stressful to constantly stay in the political loop. However, we try to demonstrate that there are many other ways to remain engaged in democracy beyond the political process. We also try to demonstrate how lower-ticket, local races (many of which are nonpartisan) greatly impact daily life and why it’s important to be educated and well-informed on all candidates before voting.