Lily Sawyers
Ferris State University junior Lily Sawyers is excited to help promote voting and political engagement on campus as she begins serving on the state of Michigan’s Collegiate Student Advisory Task Force.
The task force was established by Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson in 2019. There are 30 students from universities, private and community colleges statewide who were selected by the Michigan Department of State to participate for the 2024 election cycle.
Sawyers, an English major from Shelby Township, said her mother is a high school teacher of Advanced Placement Government classes, which helped Lily build a passion for civic engagement from an early age.
“Having a focus on a full understanding of the political process is really organic for me, as she advocated with the Michigan legislature for changes to the Survivors’ Tuition Act, which provides assistance to the children of fallen first responders,” Sawyers said. “It is a personal matter for our family, and I was able to speak before the State House on this issue and helped bring about the change that we desired.”
Sawyers said she learned about the opportunity to join the task force through a university email. There were nearly 125 applications from Michigan college students seeking appointment.
“This fall, we are meeting virtually to assemble our advisory board structure,” she said. “Every aspect of the task force is student-run, where I hope to advocate for more interactive engagement opportunities than reaching out to individuals passing my table on campus.
Sawyers looks forward to collaborative opportunities with campus community members.
“I hope to work with the administration of Ferris 360, to see if we could provide linkage to online voter registration platforms, so participation in the election process does not require a return trip to our hometowns,” she said.
According to a report by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University, Michigan voters ages 18-29 turned out at a rate of 37 percent in the 2022 midterm elections, higher than any other state CIRCLE analyzed, far higher than the national average youth turnout rate of 23 percent. Michigan was one of only four states where youth turnout was higher in 2022 than in 2018.