When Olivia Oeltjen `27 arrived on campus in January 2024 as a mid-year GES student, she didn’t know anyone. While most of her new friends hit the slopes, she wandered through Diamond one afternoon, opening random doors just to see what was inside. This act of curiosity led her to a sticker that would end up molding her entire experience here at the College.
“I was just kind of walking around Diamond, opening doors, checking stuff out,” Oeltjen said. “And I see this Colby Votes sticker on the wall, and I’m like, wait, that’s something I’d be really interested in doing. I really believe in civic engagement and voting.”
After emailing Colby Votes to ask about getting involved, Oeltjen soon found herself on a Zoom call with Elizabeth Jabar, the Dean of Civic Engagement. What she thought would be a simple statement of club interest, turned into something so much bigger.
“I really thought it was just a silly little club where I’d get a tabling shift or something,” she said, laughing. “But on the Zoom, she [Elizabeth Jabar] offers me a job. I was literally fresh off the boat from Spain…two weeks later, I’m working the club fair.”
A year and a half later, Oeltjen has become one of the key driving forces behind the College’s civic engagement efforts. She helps organize everything from voter registration events to volunteer coalitions and educational events. This fall, she worked to expand on election education leading up to the pivotal week of November 4th.
“This year was kind of an off-off season, it wasn’t like a midterm or presidential election, so people weren’t as engaged,” she explained. “But I wanted to build a coalition of volunteers who are interested in working with us so we can tap into it for later years. So I really advertised and pushed trying to get as many people involved as possible”.
To raise this awareness, Oeltjen and her team of 30 volunteers went and hosted tabling events in the Spa, designed bright orange postcards explaining local referendums, and worked with Colby Libraries for National Voter Registration Day.
“Honestly, this year was definitely more low-key,” she said. “Last year we had concerts with CMI and tie-dye T-shirts…but this year it was about making sure people knew the election was happening.”
Her efforts were extremely relevant given the issues at stake. In the November 4th, 2025 Maine elections, voters faced two major referendum questions that drew a semi-high turnout from an off-year vote. Question 1, which proposed adding photo-ID requirements and structure rules on absentee and early voting, was rejected by about 64% of voters, preserving Maine’s existing election system. However, Question 2, a “red flag” run law measure allowing courts to temporarily remove firearms from individuals deemed dangerous, passed with about 63% of support.
“These referendums on the ballot, [guns and voting access], were the kind of ‘sexy questions,’” Oeltjen said. “Stuff that’s already in the news, and highly politicized issues that people talk about…people actually care about that. It gets them talking.”
For Oeltjen, that curiosity is something she hopes continues to grow. “The kind of student who’s going to policy events or reading the news, those are people who are already civically engaged,” she said. “You just have to make sure they know when elections are happening.”
One of Oeltjen’s main goals is to make voting accessible for everyone, especially first-time voters. She recalled a chaotic moment before Election Day this year when she realized first year students couldn’t access their residency confirmation letters on the MyColby platform, which are required to register to vote in Waterville.
“I found out the day before the election,” she said. “I jumped out of bed, ran to the registrar, called the city clerk, my boss [Elizabeth Jabar], even Dean Gus…So I was running around on the phone with so many different people because it means so much to me. It was chaos, but we figured it out.”
She laughed, remembering the frenzy of it all. “I was like, this group of kids is getting to the polls, so help me God. I am going to do everything in my power to make sure this group of 700 kids are able. Even if only three freshmen voted, it would’ve been worth it.”
Some of the most rewarding moments, for Oeltjen, come from helping students who are new to the voting process. “Sometimes people come up embarrassed, like, ‘I don’t know how to register,’” she said. “But I never want anyone to feel that way. I want to create a nonjudgemental environment where asking questions is okay because voting is hard, it’s complicated, and there are a lot of barriers…There’s no such thing as a dumb question. My job is to help you vote, that’s literally what I study and what I’m paid to do.”
As the state rejected stricter voter ID laws and upheld its current voting access, Oeltjen reflected on how it felt like a form of validation of all the work her and Colby Votes do on campus and in the community. “I’m really excited for 2026 because Maine is such an important state,” she said. “People always say, ‘My vote doesn’t matter,’ but it really will. This election’s going to be close, and Colby students’ voices make a difference.”
When asked about the future of voter education on campus, Oeltjen paused and smiled before saying, “Voting is for everyone. And I think it’s so cool that this community can influence real elections in that way.”
~ Mia Dinunzio `28
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