Student Profile: Election@Bard's Sierra Ford
Sophomore Sierra Ford is the Lead Intern for Election@Bard. The organization recently held an event on National Voter Registration Day outside of Kline Commons Dining Hall. Photos by Jonathan Asiedu '24
Election@Bard has fought for Bard College students' right to vote since 2014, and this year Sierra Ford is a Lead Intern eager to keep fighting.
Dedicated, optimistic, and impassioned, Ford comes from Atlanta, and is a sophomore studying Politics and Sociology. In an interview for Annandale Advocate, Ford said she decided to add Sociology, making her a double major, simply so she could understand “why people voted the way they did."
Ford's history with politics spans all the way back to her childhood. She described how her parents would bring her to the polls on Election Day, and hand out water bottles to voters when it was still legal to do so. She joined different organizations throughout her high school career, but only really got involved with elections specifically when she took an Engaged Liberal Arts & Sciences course at Bard called Campaign 2022.
There, she became curious about what “civic engagement looked like at Bard," and participated in different events held by Election@Bard, until she took up the mantle of Lead Intern at the beginning of this semester.
Every Tuesday, she and four other interns meet at the Center for Civic Engagement's Manor Gatehouse to discuss their plans for the month and get more students involved in voting. Just recently, Election@Bard held a voter registration table at Kline Commons Dining Hall with a member of Michelle Hinchey’s team, an upcoming candidate on next year's ballot. Ford spoke about how these tables allowed her to see Bard's demographics, and most importantly, to understand what is stopping people from voting.
She stated that the hardest part of getting people to vote wasn’t in fact the people, but the system. Difficult voting guidelines, unclear deadlines and misinformation often stopped potential voters from getting to the polls. Ford says this "made me want to work harder."
In October, Sierra hopes to help organize events that allow for collaboration among students. This includes an Election Parade that would consist of a march from Fisher Center to Campus Center to mobilize voters, as well as a kitchen takeover, which would be a space where students could come to eat and talk about what’s currently happening.
Ford is cautiously optimistic about the future state of the world. She said that she is "hopeful and invigorated to get involved."
If you have any questions for Election@Bard, or your voting status, please feel free to reach out to the team at [email protected]
Post Date: 09-28-2023