Students create non-profit to encourage young voters 

By Sydney Gales

Staff Writer

In preparation for election season, four middle Tennessee students have founded a political non-profit with the goal of encouraging young adults to become registered and vote in the local, state, and federal elections. 

“Tennessee has some of the lowest voter turnout rates in the nation,” said Tennessee Association for Political Engagement co-founder, Marko Doce. 

Oliver Molina, a student at Trevecca, and Marko Doce, a student at Vanderbilt, are co-founders of the organization. 

Molina and Doce met in high school, where they noticed a lack of knowledge about voter registration and political policy, so they formed Tennessee Association for Political Engagement, better known as TAPE, in June of this year. 

Still in the early phases of TAPE, they are using their platform to encourage and educate voters by attending various events where they can set up a booth and educate those who talk to them. Most recently they attended an event called TIRC Votes, hosted by the Tennessee Immigration Refugee Rights Coalition. 

Doce and Molina also had the opportunity to meet Mayor Freddie O’Connell at the launch of the new Nashville transportation initiative, Greenlight for Green Lights. He was encouraging of their mission to encourage young voters. 

While registration for the November 5th election has ended, there is still time to register for other elections and TAPE hopes that “every voice is represented that can vote,” says Marko. 

To find out more on TAPE, you can follow them on instagram @tnengagement.