Ducks Look to "Keep It 100" at Ballot Box
09/17/24 | BEOREGON
Oregon's voter-registration effort has an added twist this year — a competition with rival Washington.
The UO athletic department's voter-registration drive is back, with a Northwest rivalry twist.
Four years ago, men's basketball assistant coach Mike Mennenga helped launch the "Keep It 100" initiative, encouraging 100 percent voter registration among Oregon's eligible student-athletes. The campaign is back this year, and this time it's crossing state lines.
Along with encouraging voter registration on their own campus, UO student-athletes and staff are engaging in a competition they're calling "Ducks vs. Dawgs: Battle at the Ballot." Members of the athletic departments at Oregon and Washington are challenging each other to not only get registered to vote themselves, but engage in broader outreach across their respective campuses and communities regarding participation in the upcoming election.
Four years ago, Ducks challenged themselves to do so, with the athletic department's teams competing against each other. Now, they have a historic rival to compete with.
"It creates a sense of unification as a school," said Bella Gamache, a member of Oregon's indoor and beach volleyball programs, and a coordinator of this year's "Keep It 100" campaign. "We're all competitive, we're all athletes, we can come together and show that we can make a difference, and really prove who we are. And also — everybody from Oregon loves to beat UW, so that's a fun thing to do."
Gamache is coordinating "Keep It 100" programming with both of her teams. Mennenga and staff members Da'Mon Merkerson, Katie Harbert and Angie Henbest are doing so with other teams in the UO athletics department, encouraging election participation with an eye toward outdoing similar efforts in Seattle.
"If we do it right," Merkerson said diplomatically, "we'll finish in a tie."
Merkerson, Oregon's senior associate athletic director for diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging, said the "Battle at the Ballot" marks "an evolution of one of our most important programs."
"This goes beyond sports," Merkerson said Tuesday, not coincidentally National Voter Registration Day across the U.S. "This is about encouraging our students and our department to be civically engaged."
Gamache, a native of Monroe, Ore., was motivated to help lead this year's "Keep It 100" campaign in part by an experience she had this summer. Gamache joined other student-athletes and staff from Big Ten Conference schools in July for the "Big Life Series: Selma to Montgomery" educational experience, where they heard from speakers and visited historic sites related to the civil rights movement.
As she made her way back to Eugene following the experience, Gamache recalled, "I wanted to know what I could do to make a difference, what I could do to bring everything I learned back to Eugene and back to the university — and truly make an impact."
Among the elements of the trip that resonated with her most deeply was a sense of responsibility to those from previous generations who fought for rights such as voting. It's something she doesn't want to take for granted, a message she conveys to her fellow student-athletes as she encourages them to take advantage of registration and voting resources available at the website studentvote.org.
"Hopefully they'll understand how this impacted me and all these other people from the past," Gamache said. "And hopefully it's something they'll become passionate about, understanding how it makes a difference in the world."
And if her fellow student-athletes are looking for even motivation to get registered and participate in the election, a chance to beat Washington is always satisfying as well.
Four years ago, men's basketball assistant coach Mike Mennenga helped launch the "Keep It 100" initiative, encouraging 100 percent voter registration among Oregon's eligible student-athletes. The campaign is back this year, and this time it's crossing state lines.
Along with encouraging voter registration on their own campus, UO student-athletes and staff are engaging in a competition they're calling "Ducks vs. Dawgs: Battle at the Ballot." Members of the athletic departments at Oregon and Washington are challenging each other to not only get registered to vote themselves, but engage in broader outreach across their respective campuses and communities regarding participation in the upcoming election.
Four years ago, Ducks challenged themselves to do so, with the athletic department's teams competing against each other. Now, they have a historic rival to compete with.
"It creates a sense of unification as a school," said Bella Gamache, a member of Oregon's indoor and beach volleyball programs, and a coordinator of this year's "Keep It 100" campaign. "We're all competitive, we're all athletes, we can come together and show that we can make a difference, and really prove who we are. And also — everybody from Oregon loves to beat UW, so that's a fun thing to do."
Gamache is coordinating "Keep It 100" programming with both of her teams. Mennenga and staff members Da'Mon Merkerson, Katie Harbert and Angie Henbest are doing so with other teams in the UO athletics department, encouraging election participation with an eye toward outdoing similar efforts in Seattle.
"If we do it right," Merkerson said diplomatically, "we'll finish in a tie."
Merkerson, Oregon's senior associate athletic director for diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging, said the "Battle at the Ballot" marks "an evolution of one of our most important programs."
"This goes beyond sports," Merkerson said Tuesday, not coincidentally National Voter Registration Day across the U.S. "This is about encouraging our students and our department to be civically engaged."
Gamache, a native of Monroe, Ore., was motivated to help lead this year's "Keep It 100" campaign in part by an experience she had this summer. Gamache joined other student-athletes and staff from Big Ten Conference schools in July for the "Big Life Series: Selma to Montgomery" educational experience, where they heard from speakers and visited historic sites related to the civil rights movement.
As she made her way back to Eugene following the experience, Gamache recalled, "I wanted to know what I could do to make a difference, what I could do to bring everything I learned back to Eugene and back to the university — and truly make an impact."
Among the elements of the trip that resonated with her most deeply was a sense of responsibility to those from previous generations who fought for rights such as voting. It's something she doesn't want to take for granted, a message she conveys to her fellow student-athletes as she encourages them to take advantage of registration and voting resources available at the website studentvote.org.
"Hopefully they'll understand how this impacted me and all these other people from the past," Gamache said. "And hopefully it's something they'll become passionate about, understanding how it makes a difference in the world."
And if her fellow student-athletes are looking for even motivation to get registered and participate in the election, a chance to beat Washington is always satisfying as well.
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