Our commitment to ensuring Hopkins votes

Dear Johns Hopkins Community: 

On a fall morning in front of Shriver Hall on our Homewood campus, several students took their seats behind a folding table, index cards and pens strewn across its surface, ready to sign up students to vote.  

As the Gilman clock struck 10 a.m., a small group of students approached the table. The year was 1972. They were there to register to vote—and to make history as part of the first wave of citizens under the age of 21 to exercise the right to vote just afforded to them by the 26th Amendment.  

More than half a century later, we have come a long way from that first voter registration drive. TurboVote has replaced pens and index cards. And that single table has blossomed into a profusion of Hopkins Votes volunteers and booths across our campuses last month during National Voter Registration Day, reaching hundreds and hundreds of community members.  

Nearly 75% of Hopkins undergraduates voted in the last presidential election—significantly greater, by comparison, than the national average for young voters. I’m proud to say that Hopkins students are voters.  

Yet we know each of us can do more. Voting is as easy as it is powerful, and Hopkins is here to support and encourage every member of our community to exercise their right to vote through:    

• Significant support for voter registration and engagement: With the coordinated support of Hopkins Votes, we are deploying comprehensive resources and supports to ensure every Hopkins community member has the means and capacity to register to vote and cast a ballot.  
• Dedicated support for staff voting: All employees will continue to have the ability to take up to two hours of paid time off (PTO) to vote. 
• Class flexibility for students: Course instructors are encouraged to provide flexibility to students when possible so they can vote and/or volunteer in support of an orderly election.  
• Transportation options: We are dedicated to ensuring all students, staff, and faculty voting locally can easily access their ballot drop-off locations and polling places. 

Please visit our universitywide Hopkins Votes website to find all of our election-related supports and resources for faculty, students, and staff.  

You might be casting your first-ever vote like those pioneering students in 1972—or the latest in a lifetime of votes. But I urge you to make a plan, make your voice heard, and vote. The late congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis often reminded us that voting is our most powerful tool in democratic society. “The vote is precious,” he said. “We must use it.” 

The vote is what our democracy, and its great promise, is built on. Go use it.  

Sincerely, 

Ron Daniels
President 

• Previous post: Redoubling our commitment to climate action and sustainability
• Next post: Henrietta Lacks Building Groundbreaking