Alumna in Law School Encourages Midterm Election Voting

By AJ Nagy ’27

As the 2026 midterm elections approach, students at Otterbein University are making a commitment to voter education and civic engagement to help make their voices heard at the polls. Raise Your Voice (RYV), Otterbein’s nonpartisan, student-run voter engagement organization, promotes civic participation through voter education, registration, and outreach.

Through campus outreach and voter education, RYV works to make voting information accessible and reminds students that their voices matter regardless of their political beliefs.

According to a 2020 study by the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement, the work of these students contributed to the university’s 74% voting rate, compared to the national average of 66%. Otterbein was also awarded the Highly Established Action Plan Seal for the 2024 election cycle from the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge for its nonpartisan democratic engagement action.

Abby Vitali ’25 was co-leader of Raise Your Voice when Otterbein received the ALL IN award. She is currently studying law at the University of Cincinnati’s Donald P. Klekamp College of Law.

“Being nonpartisan reaches out to everybody, and voting is for everybody,” said Vitali. “One of the reasons why Raise Your Voice resonated with so many people is because we were never pushing a political agenda on anybody… sometimes people correlate the idea with access to voting.”

Vitali continues to encourage all voters to practice civic engagement at each election. “Local elections and midterm elections are just as important as presidential elections because even though you may not see their impact as acutely as the presidential election, there may be even more important issues such as school levies, taxes, and things that may actually impact you more dramatically at the end of the day. That’s why it’s really important to be a proactive voter, and part of that is just keeping an eye out on what’s going on in your backyard too.”