GLENVILLE, WV – Glenville State University was the most recent stop for a seminar series that has taken place at other campuses around West Virginia. On October 4, the Department of Social Science hosted Election Integrity in the Mountain State, a program made possible by funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities special initiative, A More Perfect Union, through the West Virginia Humanities Council.
Facilitated by Glenville State’s Assistant Professor of Political Science Dr. Josh Squires, the event featured Dr. Sam Workman, who is the Director of the Institute for Policy Research and Public Affairs in the Rockefeller School of Policy and Politics at West Virginia University, and Dr. Erik Herron, Eberly Family Professor of Political Science at West Virginia University.
Those in attendance heard discussions centered on voter access, election security, and efficiency as related to voter registration and voting in general. Attendees also broke into small groups to discuss case studies that focused on same day voter registration and absentee voting. Workman and Herron noted that the point of the case studies was to approach the topics from a values standpoint, evaluating each from a nonpartisan perspective.
“Being able to bring this type of event about such a salient topic to Glenville State and other institutions around West Virginia has been a real honor for me and my colleagues. Overall, I felt that the students took the event seriously. They came up with some great solutions to the election security/access problem. My hope is that the students will take what they learned and pass it on to their friends and family to get the conversation started at home, around the state, and across the nation,” Squires said.
In recent weeks, West Virginia University and West Virginia Wesleyan College have held the same seminar for students on those campuses.
Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations do not necessarily represent those of the West Virginia Humanities Council or the National Endowment for the Humanities.
