"Democracy is a Verb":  Bard's Fight for Student Voting Rights and the Lessons for Today

A Panel Discussion featuring:
 

Michael Chameides ’01 was a leader in the campaign to secure students the right to vote at Bard and in Dutchess County and a co-founder of Student Activists for Voting Equality (SAVE) in 1998. His concentration at Bard was Philosophy. Michael remained active in political and social issues in the region. He served four terms on the Columbia County Board of Supervisors (the county legislature in the county to the north of Bard). He is the recipient of the 2023 Hudson Valley Area Labor Federation Friend of Labor Award. He is the Communications and Policy Director for Rural Democracy and works with leaders across the country to build a stronger democracy where people can shape the decisions that impact them.
 
Jess Zaccagnino ’17 was an Andrew Goodman Foundation vote everywhere ambassador and as co-president of Election@Bard and studied Human Rights with a concentration in Global and International Affairs while at Bard. She currently serves as ACLU-Connecticut’s Policy Counsel where she plans and implements policy initiatives through legislative policy research, analysis, drafting, and advocacy. After Bard, she received her J.D. and LL.M. in Human Rights & Social Justice from the University of Connecticut School of Law, where she served as a teaching assistant for a First Amendment law course and organized a conference on political polarization as the symposium editor of the Connecticut Law Review.
 
Ella Walko is a senior studying Politics and in her third year at Election@Bard, where she is co-lead. She will be starting law school in the fall. 
 
Erin Cannan is Bard College Vice President for Civic Engagement and the author of “A Practical Guide to Encouraging Student Voting” in Youth Voting Rights (2026)
 
Jonathan Becker is Bard College Vice President for Academic Affairs and Director of the Center for Civic Engagement and co-editor of Youth Voting Rights: Civil Rights, the Twenty-Sixth Amendment, and the Fight for American Democracy on College Campuses (De Gruyter, 2026).
 
Sierra Ford (moderator) is a senior studying Politics and Sociology, co-lead of Election@Bard and Speaker of the Student Body.

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