The Campus Center at Vermont State University Castleton was bustling with students, professors, and even an NBC reporter for National Voter Registration Day.

With the presidential election coming fast, talks of voter registration and the election are a daily topic of conversation in the media.

Taylor Swift broke the internet by endorsing Kamala Harris as her pick president while encouraging younger and first-time voters to vote including resources on how to get involved.

According to Political Science professor Rich Clark, her statement caused an increase of millions of views on various election information sites.

When asked about his feelings on Swift’s announcement, Clark believes that “anything to create interest among young voters is good.” He knows oftentimes younger voters feel uncomfortable and confused by voting and thinks any action to clear that up is great.

Out of 19 VTSU Castleton students interviewed in an informal poll, 17 said they were already registered to vote and those who said no, had plans to register quickly before the upcoming election.

Several students felt strongly about this election and have clear plans to vote this November. Sophomore Pajua Gamba feels that being registered to vote is very important to them because “while it is only one vote, which doesn’t matter by itself, everyone’s vote combined does.”

Junior Liv Cormier said she is casting her votes to ensure the policies and laws that benefit people will continue to stay in action.

Contrary to the positive feelings among VTSU voters, student Samuel Zinner said although he is registered, he feels the popular vote is a sham, but will be voting anyway.

While not everyone interviewed was as positive as Gamba – some even saying they feel like their votes don’t truly matter – Clark discourages this behavior and states that “all elections are important.”

He said it’s important that voters don’t become too cynical, especially in this current climate where 35% of Americans believe that the 2020 presidential election was rigged, even when extensive research shows it was not.

Ruben Somda, Content Lab president, shared some of his findings after collecting data on voter registration around campus. Most of the students who weren’t registered to vote fell into two categories, he said.

“Those who choose not to vote and those who don’t know how to and are intimated by the process,” Somda said.

In the category of those students who chose not to vote, Somda echoed what some students said in the poll.

“There’s a strong mentality of [students thinking their] vote means nothing,” he said.  

This category falls into the pattern of cynicism that Clark discouraged against.

On the other side of the spectrum, Somda found those who are too daunted by the process are “more receptive to learning about the process and often times take the necessary steps necessary to vote.”

One of those necessary steps could be a new app Clark and his class are promoting called Motivote. The app shares resources and information to young voters easily and on their phones.

Local NBC news reporter James Maloney, who was sent to cover VTSU’s voter registration celebration, thinks the new app sets VTSU apart from other voter registration efforts because it’s a newer and easier way to get younger voters involved and there is no better place to do that than on a college campus.

For more information on this new app, you can check out the website at www.motivote.us.

Somda encourages students who are not involved to get involved.

“Every vote in any election matters. It gets you engaged with your community and the politics that affect you,” he said.