How do you find your polling station? Can you register to vote online? What exactly is absentee voting? Understanding voting rules before election day comes around can be the difference between getting your vote counted and getting your vote tossed, and some people can easily get shut out of the process.

Students from Carol Sun’s graphic design class at the Bronx High School for the Visual Arts worked with CUP teaching artist Nontsikelelo Mutiti to decode voter eligibility rules.

Students spoke with representatives Kahtryn Peters and Paul Kominers from an organization called Turbo Vote that helps people to navigate the voting process. Students asked questions to find out what you need to bring to the polling stations, how to register to vote, deadlines to register, and more. Students took what they learned and designed buttons with slogans with their thoughts on the system. The team then designed a brochure to make these rules more accessible to their peers.

You can see the brochure here.

What People are Saying

“During my time with CUP I’ve started to grasp the idea of civic engagement. Civic engagement is when somebody decides to address a social issue within their community. This can be anything from sanitation to budget. I’ve come to realize that graphic design plays an important role in civic engagement.” – Quinton Negron, “Voters Rule” student

Resources & Links

Bronx High School for the Visual Arts provides students with an interdisciplinary curriculum that fosters an appreciation for the (visual) arts, meeting city and state standards for college and career readiness, in a diverse, safe, nurturing environment with strong parental involvement.

Turbo Vote is an application designed to make voting easy.

Funding Support

This project was made possible by public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature; and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

Special Thanks

Kathryn Peters and Paul Kominers (Turbo Vote)

Participants

  • CUP
  • Teaching Artist
  • Nontsikelelo Mutiti
  • Project Lead
  • Valeria Mogilevich
  • Project Support
  • Sam Holleran
  • Oscar Nuñez
  • Bronx High School for the Visual Arts 
    • Students
    • Diana Aguirre
      Dyreek Brathwaite
      Charles Brown
      De Sean Brunson
      Karim Christopher
      Anthony Denor
      Celines Flores
      Malcolm Jackson
      Devin Lopez
      Kassandra Luyando
      Quinton Negron
      Miguel Peralta
      Emani Prioleau
      Argzon Qosaj
      Albert Rica
      Ashley Rios
      Jasmine Stackhouse
      Jurgen Tafaj
    • Classroom teacher
    • Carol Sun