Camden, NJ – Lieutenant Governor Tahesha Way joined students, faculty, and staff at Rutgers University-Camden to kick off the 6th Annual New Jersey Ballot Bowl.

The New Jersey Ballot Bowl is an annual statewide non-partisan voter registration and engagement competition, established by Lieutenant Governor Way in her capacity as New Jersey Secretary of State, in which she serves as New Jersey’s chief election official. Collegiate-based teams compete within divisions based upon campus size to see who can register the most voters and obtain the most commitments to vote. Each year, thousands of young people across New Jersey participate and help their peers on campus, as well as people in the surrounding communities, become New Jersey voters. The competition ends on Election Day, November 7, 2023.

The program featured speeches from Lieutenant Governor Way, Dr. Nyeema Watson, who is Senior Vice Chancellor for Strategy, Diversity, and Community Engagement at Rutgers University-Camden, as well as Matthew Brodsky, who serves as both a Bonner Civic Scholar and the President of the Student Governing Association (SGA) at the University. Additionally, there was a video message from Graham Gano, the No. 9 placekicker for the Giants, and a special appearance by World B. Free, the retired 76ers legend also known as the Prince of Midair.

“Every year, thousands of students across New Jersey step up and join their campus Ballot Bowl team to help their classmates register to vote and participate in our elections,” said Lieutenant Governor Tahesha Way. “We’re so proud of this effort by young voters to get people excited and involved in our democracy. We can’t wait to see how all the teams do this year!”

“Our campus community is honored to host the launch of Ballot Bowl 2023. We applaud Lieutenant Governor Way for her unwavering commitment to increasing the number of voters in our state by reducing barriers to voting,” said Rutgers University-Camden Chancellor Antonio D. Tillis. “As a Carnegie-classified community-engaged university, Rutgers-Camden prepares the next generation of civic leadership for our region, state, and nation. Voting is essential to our democracy, and I am very proud that Rutgers-Camden students are actively exercising their right to vote and helping others do so as well.”

“Rutgers University-Camden has shown that we are committed to getting young people to be active participants in the political process and engaged in their communities," stated Matthew Brodsky, Bonner Civic Scholar and President of the Student Governing Association at Rutgers-Camden. “We are happy to see the New Jersey Division of Elections recognize all the hard work that has been dedicated to this commitment through the RUC Votes Coalition. For this country’s democracy to thrive we must continue to help young people become active participants in shaping policy.”

The link to the recorded livestream event: https://fb.watch/naS8Y3bnvt/?mibextid=cr9u03