IUPUI was recently recognized by Washington Monthly as a Best College for Student Voting 2020. In preparation for the upcoming election season, several resources are available for faculty, staff and students to promote voter registration and voting across the campus.
For some context, IUPUI participates in the National Study of Learning, Voting and Engagement (NSLVE) which matches our student information with voting records and produces reports on voter registration and voting. In 2016, the last presidential election, 82.1% of students were registered to vote and 70.2% of those registered actually voted giving us a voting rate of 57.7%. If you’d like to explore this data further, including breakdowns by disciplines, the reports are posted on the Office of Community Engagement website.
Earlier this year, Chancellor Paydar signed on to the Higher Education Presidents’ Commitment to Full Student Voter Participation and IUPUI joined the Ask Every Student initiative with the goal of 100% student voter registration. To that end, a number of resources are available to increase student voter registration and voting. They include:
- Voter registration and engagement information on the Office of Communty Engagement website and linked in one.iu.edu, including a Voter Information Guide
- An Election Engagement module in Canvas that covers voter registration and voting
- A political and civic engagement calendar of events
- The Center for Service and Learning has developed a website with resources for civics in the curriculum
- An Information Literacy module in Canvas
- The Civic Engagement Assistants in Student Affairs are available to provide information or present on how to vote, civil discourse, understanding government and more
- Follow JagsVote on Instagram for the latest on events
- Women4Change student organization is offering virtual office hours to answer voting questions on Mondays at 11 and Fridays at 4. Sign up here: tinyurl.com/w4cofficehours
Key dates for the upcoming 20200election are:
- September 22: National Voter Registration Day
- October 5: Voter registration for the general election ends in Indiana
- October 6 – November 2 at noon: Early voting in Indiana
- October 22: Deadline to request an absentee ballot in Indiana
- November 3: General Election Day
While all are encouraged to exercise their right to vote, there are limitations on the use of university resources for political activities. Review the university policies on political activity for clarification. Should you have any questions about these resources, please reach out to Jennifer Boehm (jrboehm@iupui.edu).