The 49er Democracy Experience paves the way for student political engagement 

The 49er Democracy Experience is a nonpartisan campus initiative with the aim of encouraging UNC Charlotte students to engage with the voting process. Mark Sanders, an associate teaching professor in the Department of Philosophy , has been involved with this initiative since its inception in 2012, when Charlotte hosted the Democratic National Convention.

“Eighteen to 25 year olds are underrepresented at the voting booth, so I think it’s important to encourage them and let them know about the political process,” Sanders said.

Sanders, as faculty liaison for the 49er Democracy Experience, works with and connects students, faculty and administrators across campus. Over the years, he has seen the growth of student-led initiatives like “Donut Forget to Vote” and social media campaigns. But the real game-changer for the 2024 election is having the Cone University Center as an early voting site, he said.

“Anyone who lives on campus can find the Cone University Center and vote there,” Sanders said. “We should be doing anything we can to make it easy to vote for everyone, especially for students who may not have transportation to get to early voting sites. For a University our size, it’s worth it.”

Voting may be a hot topic during the height of a presidential election, but Sanders says the 49er Democracy Experience faces the challenge of engaging students year round to participate in local elections. Another challenge, especially in a time of polarized political discourse, is exhaustion among student voters. Sanders sees this, and he leads with empathy and education.

“My approach is just to be understanding of students; I’m not going to lecture students on the importance of voting,” Sanders said. “My approach is to ask them what prevents them from voting and direct them to helpful resources.”

A top priority for Sanders and the 49er Democracy Experience is education. On its website students have access to resources on everything from North Carolina voter ID laws to information on representatives. The 49er Democracy Experience also sponsors educational events leading up to and after the general election. These include “The State of Democracy,” hosted by Mary Jo McGowan and Martha Kropf, on the process of voting administration and “Election 2024: What Just Happened?” hosted by Eric Heberlig, to unpack the results.

The 2024 North Carolina ballot is lengthy, and Sanders doesn’t expect college students to have opinions on every single candidate. His suggestion is for students to identify areas of public life that interest them and conduct research on the representatives accordingly. As a philosophy teacher specializing in community and democracy, Sanders says being an active member of the community transcends casting one’s vote every four years.

“Voting is important, but so is a level of democratic, political engagement,” Sanders said. “I think it’s important to instill that in some degree to students that can easily get lost in their major, career search and social media.”