Visit the project website, Valley Votes Project, here. The website features resources to understand voting, information on how to request an absentee ballot, photos of events this project has hosted, and more.
Virginia - Building Trust in Elections
Project Objective: Focusing on the Shenandoah Valley area the project launched a series of voter engagement efforts including a speaker series, updated and interactive website, and voter registration tabling events on college campuses and in the local community.
Valley Votes Project Website
Speaker Series
Valley Votes Securely
Votes securely and learn how elections are secured in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, and the United States more generally.
Valley Votes Confidently
Vote confidently by listening to this discussion with guest speaker Judd Choate, Colorado Director of Elections.
Valley Votes Enthusiastically
Vote enthusiastically after watching this discussion on the importance of voting with local elected officials.
Media Coverage
WMRA: Improving trust in Virginia's elections
The Valley Votes Project has been hard at work this fall reaching out to voters through a variety of voter registration drives, voter educational materials and speaker roundtables.
WHSV: Bridgewater political science professor educating students, community on importance of voting
Professor Bobbi G. Gentry is educating students at Bridgewater College and the community at large about building trust and understanding of the election process.
Chapter Spotlight: Virginia SSN Builds Trust in Elections at Local Level
When the Scholars Strategy Network announced a new grant opportunity to fund projects meant to increase trust and participation in elections, Virginia SSN chapter leaders Bobbi Gentry and Benjamin Blankenship immediately knew they wanted to apply.
Project Leaders
James Madison University
Blankenship is a co-leader of the Virginia SSN chapter. Blankenship's research focuses on the role of identity and stereotypes on the political engagement, belonging, and well-being of marginalized groups, specifically focusing on groups with concealable identities.
Bridgewater College
Gentry is a co-leader of the Virginia SSN chapter. Gentry is a scholar of teaching and learning who focuses on improving student engagement in the classroom through simulations, policy problem/solution proposals, and research projects. She is also a youth voting scholar and does extensive research in political identity.