Oxford Student Makes Voter Registration Honor Roll

By Edwin B. Smith

University of Mississippi

The ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge has named University of Mississippi sophomore Alex Mobley to its 2023 Student Voting Honor Roll for his efforts to register new voters.

The Chinese and mathematics major from Oxford is among 175 college students from across the country selected to the Honor Roll, which recognizes students at participating campuses who are advancing nonpartisan student voter registration, education and turnout efforts, as well as ensuring equitable access to the polls.

“Although a personal award, this was really an award given to me based on the incredible work our team was able to do this year,” said Mobley, who is the student leader of the UM Voting Engagement Ambassador team in the Center for Community Engagement. “It is always great to have your work recognized and even better when it is from a national organization.”

Over the past year, Mobley’s team gave presentations, conducted research and taught students about voting and voter registration. As a result, Ole Miss voter registration numbers doubled from the previous year.

“We were able to help students fill out absentee ballots and answer any questions they had about the process,” he said. “We were also able to establish a place on campus where voter registration cards can be sent for free, meaning students would not have to buy a P.O. box to register to vote, removing one of the most common barriers to students.”

In the spring, the team organized the Freedom Now! Panel on James Meredith’s March Against Fear in coordination with the university’s observance of its 60th anniversary of integration. This event focused on the 1966 March Against Fear that called attention to voter discrimination and increased Black voter registration in Mississippi.

“(This award) means someone from the outside the Lafayette-Oxford-University community saw our work and was thoroughly impressed,” Mobley said. “It is proof that our efforts have effects that spread past just our community. It is also a great encouragement to keep going.

“It shows that we are on the right path, and that now we need to continue this work and build on this achievement.”