The nonpartisan Paws to the Polls holds voting fairs at Missouri State University to motivate the community, primarily students, to register to vote.
The organization provides voter information and registration assistance during the events to engage the community and encourage people to participate in elections.
Addie Kimmerle, an MSU freshman, is the student government representative for Paws to the Polls. At a voting fair this month, she was in charge of free giveaways for passers-by as well as handing out information about voter registration.
"Paws to the Polls is a nonpartisan voting organization here in the Missouri State University campus," said Kimmerle. "We go, and our main initiative is just to register people to vote and to get them excited about voting, so each semester we hold a voting fair to register people to vote and give them some activities that, again, get them excited about voting."
The last April Municipal Election in Springfield, in 2022, had just over a 14% voter turnout.
Suzanne Walker-Pacheco, MSU professor of anthropology, is faculty coordinator for Paws to the Polls.
"Low voting rates tend to be the norm," she said, "and we're trying to change that and get more students civically engaged as well as, again, just generally bring more people to the polls for our local election."
The Greene County Clerk's Office and League of Women Voters of Southwest Missouri were two groups at the voting fair helping Paws to the Polls encourage students to register to vote.
