Culver Academies students help register classmates, faculty, staff to vote

A team of eight Culver Academies students is working to make sure the school’s voice is heard in the Nov. 5 presidential election by helping new student voters and others to register so they are eligible to cast ballots on Nov. 5.

The students set up a table with six computers at the front of the Lay Dining Center on Monday evening and within minutes students and at least one faculty member began using the non-partisan Vote.org to register to vote or to check their voting status.

Through Vote.org anyone who will be 18 by Election Day can register to vote or request an absentee ballot. Anyone too young to vote in this presidential election can sign up to get reminder email to register when they turn 18, said Don Fox ’75, a senior instructor and the Richard W. Freeman chair of the leadership education department, who organized the registration training.

Culver students said they were grateful they could register to vote.

“I just turned 18 in July and I’m super excited to vote,” said Santiago Moctezuma ’25, the first student to register to vote. “It’s brand new to me and it’s something I’ve been looking forward to.”

Moctezuma, who was born in Houston, Texas, and now lives in Mexico City, Mexico, said he has not yet decided who he will vote for.

Elise Quandt ’25, who turns 18 soon, said she applied for an absentee ballot from her hometown of Naples, Florida, during the summer and was verifying that everything was in order.

“I was just double-checking,” she said. 

Eston Armstrong of Marlo, Oklahoma, was already registered to vote, but he signed up for an absentee ballot on Monday. He said he was excited to vote.

“I’m ready to start becoming more involved in my country’s future,” he said.

Humanities instructor Eric Mumau, who moved here over the summer from Hawaii, learned he couldn’t register to vote until he gets his Indiana driver’s license.

Fox said Ravi Gaba ’25 of Granger, Indiana, approached him in the spring about organizing a voter registration drive.

Gaba said his interest in politics grew out of watching the presidential debates between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in 2016. He said he found it entertaining, but he didn’t understand the significance of the debate.

“As I started to grow, I started to understand the significance that political contributions and civic contributions citizens have on our democracy. So I want to make sure everybody has equal representation and that everybody has the tools and access to be able to vote and participate in our democracy,” Gaba said.

Fox organized a non-partisan presidential debate watch party attended by about 130 Culver seniors on Sept. 11. About 30 of those students indicated they would be eligible to vote but had not yet registered.

“I want to at least get those 30 registered,” Gaba said. "I want to get everyone who is willing and is eligible registered to vote.”

Fox, who worked for more than 30 years in the government, said he decided to help in the effort because he believes it important.

“I think civic participation is part of being a responsible citizen. It fits with our mission,” Fox said.

Fox said the group also plans to hold a registration drive at Huffington Library to get faculty and staff registered.

“We’re going to remind people, ‘Hey, you just might want to check that you are registered to vote,’ ” Fox said. “Weird things happen.”