At 18-years-old, sophomore Charlotte Johnson embarks on her first election – a presidential election. Instead of keeping her head down and simply going to the polls, Johnson wanted to make a difference within Duke Athletics.

Due to Duke's COVID-19 guidelines, the field hockey team arrived on campus near the end of July and went through an isolation period. During this period of quarantine, Johnson began thinking about how she could make an impact on the upcoming election.

"The idea came to me when we first got here in the summer and had to quarantine," Johnson said. "I figured it would be a positive way for athletes to use their platforms – similar to how professional athletes have been vocal about social justice and fighting for your rights."

Political affiliation aside, Johnson wanted everyone to be an advocate and realize they have the power to make a difference while hopefully influencing family, friends and followers in the process. Trying to get the ball rolling, she took her voting campaign initiative to Bob Weiseman – a senior associate director of athletics and the field hockey sport administrator.

"She had a whole presentation with everything she wanted to do, and it was quite impressive," said Weiseman. "The department was working on voting initiatives, but Charlotte was the first student-athlete I know of that was willing to step up and push it. Her overall preparedness and ability to put her passionate thoughts into something organized with such depth blew me away."

Weiseman found Johnson's large vision remarkable. She didn't just want everyone on field hockey to be registered – her sights were set on all teams, totaling over 650 student-athletes.

After seeing her presentation, Weiseman connected her with Taren Moore, the executive director of human resources, and Leslie Barnes who is the associate director of athletics for student-athlete development.

"To the administration – I stated why we needed to do this, why it would be good for us and how we can influence our community," Johnson said. "I also thought it would be a good marketing tool and the goal was to get the greater Durham community, fans or other schools motivated, too."

Moore and Barnes, who have worked closely with campus' Duke Votes staff, found a way to collaborate with the University to make sure their vision was channeled through Johnson's campaign. The next step would be proposing her plan to Duke's Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).

"What I presented to SAAC was why voting is important and how using our voice is impactful for the future," the sophomore said. "I know we're running around all the time and busy, but it's really important to take the time to focus on what makes our country work."

From there on, each team representative on SAAC took the message back to their respective programs. Johnson created a voter survey, trying to gauge who was or wasn't registered. She admitted it was hard to get responses without badgering people to fill it out, but she got 141 responses.

Within Duke's external relations department, Meredith Rieder and Hunter Richardson assisted SAAC, working closely with the committee to put together an outline, gather information and create educational graphics that would be promoted through social media channels. Their goal was to amplify the voices of the student-athlete led initiative to increase voter registration and turnout among the Duke family.

Wanting the voter registration form easily accessible to all Duke's student-athletes, Moore worked closely with Teamworks to upload the document. Student-athletes could then print the form, fill it out and leave it in a drop-off box located in the Murray weight room. From there on, Moore made multiple trips to the Durham County Board of Elections to turn them in.

Of those eligible, Duke had 10 teams 100-percent registered to vote. Those teams include field hockey, baseball, men's soccer, volleyball, softball, women's lacrosse, men's lacrosse, swimming & diving, women's basketball and men's basketball.

"The whole premise was to get all of our student-athletes registered to vote because of optics – it would be a strong way to represent the athletic department in a time of turmoil," said Johnson.

Weiseman notes how special it was to have staff members and student-athletes pushing to get everyone registered, combined with everything going on due to the pandemic.

"There's been an overall buy-in and support of each other," Weiseman said. "I think we all understand that there are important issues on the table and everyone's voices need to be heard. To a degree, it couldn't be at a better time, because we're all united trying to beat the pandemic. We have an opportunity to continue that progress with issues that are more important to our entire community."

Now it's time for those to make a voting plan. In North Carolina, early voting opened October 15th and goes through the 31st. Johnson and Moore both harped on utilizing the poll location on Duke's campus at the Karsh Alumni and Visitors Center.

"It's a luxury for us to have, because not every institution has a voting site," said Moore. "We've shifted from how to register to vote, to educating what's on the ballot. Helping people understand what they're voting for in a nonpartisan way."

Moore called Johnson "a true leader" as she took it upon herself to create a plan and see it through while educating others in the process.

Founding the voting campaign has had a large impact on Johnson, especially as it's her first presidential election. She saw that she was advantaged and wanted to use her privilege to inspire others. To be cliché, she wanted to make a difference and convince others to use their power in a positive way.

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