Secretary of State Hargett Presents Tennessee College Voter Registration Competition Award to Carson-Newman University

Front Row L to R: Mitra Sarshuri, Savannah McMillan, Tiffany Fritts, Briana Lay, Ansley Parker and Dr. Kara Stooksbury, Carson-Newman University Chair of Political Science, History and Sociology Department.

Back Row L to R: Secretary of State Tre Hargett, Rep. Jeremy Faison, Derick Marlow, Luke Patton, Thomas Fodor, Ian Trent and Carson-Newman University President Dr. Charles A. Fowler. 

Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett, along with Rep. Andrew Farmer and Rep. Jeremy Faison, presented Carson-Newman University with an award for winning the 2nd annual Tennessee College Voter Registration Competition in the private university/college category.

“Our state is stronger when every eligible citizen participates in the electoral process,” Secretary Hargett said. “I want to congratulate and thank the dedicated Carson-Newman University students who played a part in registering their fellow students to vote.”

Every college and university in the state had the chance to compete by registering students to vote and to spread awareness of the campaign on social media using the hashtag #GoVoteTN, along with their school-specific hashtag.

“I’m so proud that my students are being recognized for their contributions to civic engagement,” Dr. Kara Stooksbury, Carson-Newman University Chair of Political Science, History and Sociology Department said. “Voting is one of our most important rights as citizens, and too often, college students are left out of the electoral process, because they don’t register to vote.”

At the 48 participating schools, more than 2,000 students registered to vote during the Tennessee College Voter Registration Competition, which took place in September in honor of National Voter Registration Month.

In addition to Carson-Newman University, Middle Tennessee State University won in the 4-year public college/university category, and Northeast State Community College won in the 2-year community/junior college category. The winning schools were selected based on the number of new students registered and their social media presence (both weighted by student enrollment) as well as their campus creativity in promoting the college voter registration drive.