Brown Votes is a civic engagement initiative housed at Brown University. The group is overseen by the Swearer Center for Public Service at Brown University, and its primary activity is increasing campus civic engagement through voter turnout initiatives.  ¹

Brown Votes is a member of the Rhode Island Voting Access Coalition.  ²

Background

Brown Votes originated as a student group at Brown University, and in 2021 transitioned to a university-wide initiative. Brown Votes is managed by the Swearer Center for Public Service at Brown University. As of 2025, the Brown Votes website stated that the Swearer Center works with Brown Votes on developing initiatives and communications “aligned with Brown University’s civic engagement priorities.”  ^{1 3}

Brown Votes is a member of the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge. ALL IN is a civic engagement initiative focused on the college campuses that claims it “provides incentive, structure, and accountability” to drive voter turnout.  ⁴

The group is also a member of the Rhode Island Voting Access Coalition.  ²

Brown Votes’ advocacy committee claims it is focused on increasing “voting access through organizing, lobbying and campaigning.” The committee partners with a group called LetRIVote. The Rhode Island Voting Access Coalition formed LetRIvote; however, its Facebook page states it is maintained by Common Cause. It is unclear if Common Cause Rhode Island runs the Rhode Island Voting Access as Coalition, as the coalition has little public information available, however Common Cause Rhode Island does publish press releases for its petitions.  ^{5  1  6  2}

Members of the Rhode Island Voting Access Coalition as of 2025 included the ACLU of Rhode Island, Alliance of RI Southeast Asians for Education (ARISE), Clean Water Action Rhode Island, Common Cause Rhode Island, Formerly Incarcerated Union of Rhode Island, League of Women Voters of Rhode Island, NAACP Providence Branch, National Council of Jewish Women, RI Action Team, Planned Parenthood of Southern New England, Rhode Island Coalition Against Gun Violence, Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless, Rhode Island Latino PAC, Rhode Island Working Families Party, and the Women’s Fund of Rhode Island.  ²

Activities

In 2025, Brown Votes was a signatory on a petition opposing the Save Act of 2025. The Save Act, sponsored by U.S. Representative Chip Roy (R-TX) is a “bill [that] requires individuals to provide documentary proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections.”  ^{6  7}

The group provides access to election information on its website, linking to a database of voter information run by the U.S. Vote Foundation. Brown Votes also partners with TurboVote, a project of Democracy Works.  ⁸

Examples of civic engagement tactics that Brown Votes encourages include listing election information in class syllabi; having faculty integrate civic engagement topics with class discussion, such as by having STEM classes focus on the “public challenges of climate change”; or adding voting information into email signatures.  ⁹

People

As of 2025, Austin Wilson was the manager of Brown Votes, as well as the manager for community-engaged learning at Brown University’s Swearer Center for Public Service. Previously, Wilson worked as a senior program manager at Social Enterprise Greenhouse, as a project coordinator for the Conservation Fund, and as an operations assistant at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University.  ^{10  11}

1. “About.” Brown Votes | Brown University. Accessed August 18, 2025. https://brownvotes.brown.edu/about.
2. “State of Rhode Island General Assembly.” RI State Seal. Accessed August 18, 2025. https://www.rilegislature.gov/pressrelease/_layouts/RIL.PressRelease.ListStructure/Forms/DisplayForm.aspx?List=c8baae31-3c10-431c-8dcd-9dbbe21ce3e9&ID=371629&Web=2bab1515-0dcc-4176-a2f8-8d4beebdf488.
3. “About.” Swearer Center for Public Service | Brown University. Accessed August 18, 2025. https://swearer.brown.edu/about.
4. “All in Campus Democracy Challenge.” ALL IN Challenge. Accessed August 11, 2025. https://allinchallenge.org/.
5. “Let Ri Vote.” Facebook. Accessed August 18, 2025. https://www.facebook.com/letrivote/.
6. “Coalition Urges Sens. Reed, Whitehouse to Oppose Anti-Voter Save Act.” Common Cause Rhode Island. Accessed August 18, 2025. https://www.commoncause.org/rhode-island/press/coalition-urges-sens-reed-whitehouse-to-oppose-anti-voter-save-act/. 
7. H.R.22 – 119th Congress (2025-2026): Save act | congress.gov | library of Congress. Accessed August 18, 2025. https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/22. 
8. “Election Tracking.” Brown Votes | Brown University. Accessed August 18, 2025. https://brownvotes.brown.edu/election-tracking. 
9. “Civic Engagement Toolkit.” Brown Votes | Brown University. Accessed August 18, 2025. https://brownvotes.brown.edu/toolkit. 
10. “Austin Wilson.” LinkedIn. Accessed August 9, 2025. https://www.linkedin.com/in/austin-wilson-9492b2145/. 
11. “Austin Wilson.” Swearer Center for Public Service | Brown University. Accessed August 9, 2025. https://swearer.brown.edu/people/austin-wilson.