{"id":49394,"date":"2020-07-26T19:06:01","date_gmt":"2020-07-26T23:06:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/?page_id=49394"},"modified":"2026-06-24T13:02:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T17:02:11","slug":"voting-is-social-work","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/about\/equity-inclusion\/voting-is-social-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Voting is Social Work"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As part of BUSSW&#8217;s work on anti-racist activism, we work to facilitate voter registration, voting rights efforts, and safe voting for our school community by\u00a0 partnering with voting groups including <\/span><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/csc\/bu-votes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">BU Votes<\/span><\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/vot-er.org\/civic-health-month\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Civic Health Month<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><\/a><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/vot-er.org\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Vot-ER<\/span><\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">,<\/span> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/votingissocialwork.org\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Voting is Social Work.<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">BUSSW is committed to:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>ENGAGE <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">students, faculty, staff and partner agencies by raising awareness about the importance of voting and its connection to social work practice<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>EDUCATE<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> students and partner agencies on voter engagement and voting rights activities<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>REGISTER<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> students, faculty, staff, partner agency colleagues, clients, and communities<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>ENSURE<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that all people served by social workers are able to <\/span><b>VOTE<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5>Join Us!<\/h5>\n<p>Faculty, staff and students are invited and encouraged to join BUSSW Votes. Email Diane Crowley at <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"mailto:crowleyd@bu.edu\">crowleyd@bu.edu <\/a>to learn more.<\/span><\/p>\n<h5><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Get Involved<br \/>\n<\/span><\/h5>\n<p><strong>Help ensure you and those around you can vote safely this year:<\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/vot-er.org\/healthy-democracy-kit\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Order a free Healthy Democracy Kit<\/span><\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to join other social workers and healthcare providers in registering patients\/clients, staff, friends and family to vote before Election Day<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Add the <\/span><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1fw7bDTBPrNLRnn7FGcpSZ1cOIZww5YHgzZftyGsmowk\/edit\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">safe voting email signature<\/span><\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to your emails<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Follow Civic Health Month, <a href=\"https:\/\/vot-er.org\/\"><span><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Vot-ER<\/span><\/span><\/a><span> and <\/span><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/votingissocialwork.org\/\">Voting is Social Work<\/a><\/span> <span>to stay up to date with the latest information and updates.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Voting by mail &amp; absentee voting:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.usa.gov\/absentee-voting#item-214662\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">USA.gov Mail-In Absentee Ballot Overview<\/span><\/a> &#8211; Includes information about how some states are changing their processes and allowing mail-in or absentee ballots<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vote.org\/absentee-ballot-deadlines\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Vote.org Absentee Ballot Deadlines<\/span><\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; State-by-state deadlines to apply for an absentee ballot<\/span><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncsl.org\/research\/elections-and-campaigns\/vopp-table-2-excuses-to-vote-absentee.aspx\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">&#8220;Acceptable Excuses&#8221; for Absentee Voting<\/span><\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; <span>\u00a0Some states have \u201cno-excuse absentee\u201d voting, which means any voter can request a mail ballot without providing an excuse; others only permit certain voters to request an absentee ballot by mail, based on an \u201cexcuse\u201d of why that voter can\u2019t make it to the polls on Election Day. This webpage summarizes acceptable excuses. (<em>Note: The table has not been updated since April 2020; please refer to each state&#8217;s website for updates.)<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5>Additional Resources<\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rockthevote.org\/how-to-vote\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rock The Vote: How To Vote<\/a><\/span> \u2013 <strong>Register to vote<\/strong>, check your registration, and find important deadlines<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rockthevote.org\/voting-information\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Rock The Vote: Voting Information<\/span><\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 Contains state-by-state information<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sec.state.ma.us\/ele\/elevoterinfo.htm\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Voter Information from the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts<\/span><\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 Government website (<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">sec.state.ma.us)<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/lwvma.org\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">League of Women Voters of Massachusetts<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/voting-rights\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">ACLU: Voting Rights<\/span><\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 Information about voter suppression by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fairfight.com\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Fair Fight<\/span><\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 Organization led by Stacey Abrams promoting fair elections<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/votingissocialwork.org\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Voting Is Social Work<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncsl.org\/research\/elections-and-campaigns\/early-voting-in-state-elections.aspx#Early%20Voting%20Law%20Table\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">NCSL Early Voting Information<\/span><\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; State-by-state early voting policies<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.npschools.com\/blog\/civic-health-month\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Civic Health Month: An Expert\u2019s Advocacy Guide<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/bu.turbovote.org\/\" class=\"button\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">BU TURBOVOTE<\/a> \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/vot-er.org\/socialwork\/\" class=\"button\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">VOT-ER HEALTHY DEMOCRACY KIT<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As part of BUSSW&#8217;s work on anti-racist activism, we work to facilitate voter registration, voting rights efforts, and safe voting for our school community by\u00a0 partnering with voting groups including BU Votes, Civic Health Month, Vot-ER, and Voting is Social Work. BUSSW is committed to:\u00a0 ENGAGE students, faculty, staff and partner agencies by raising awareness [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14869,"featured_media":0,"parent":61090,"menu_order":7,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/49394"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14869"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49394"}],"version-history":[{"count":50,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/49394\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82790,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/49394\/revisions\/82790"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/61090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}