IU is working to encourage students to vote in the upcoming November elections. To do this, the University will participate in the All in Campus Democracy Challenge and hold voter registration drives, walk-to-vote events and panel discussions, according to a press release.
The All in Campus Democracy Challenge provides students with information and tools to participate in elections. It’s a project of Civic Nation, a nonprofit organization that partners with public and private organization to address national challenges.
The Political and Civic Engagement undergraduate certificate program registered the campus for the All in Campus Democracy Challenge.
After enrolling in the challenge, campuses must create an action plan to increase civic engagement at their school.
The challenge has awards based on the amount of voter participation for each campus. Eighty percent student voter participation earns a campus a platinum award. Gold goes to those that have between 70 and 79 percent participation, and so on. The top group in the gold or platinum category will be named the All In Challenge champion, according to the website.
In order to participate, universities must be a part of the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement, a Tufts University study that tracks student registration and voting rates. Besides IU, 900 other colleges participate in this program.
PACE director Sandra Shapshay and PACE associate director Lisa-Marie Napoli heard about the challenge at a conference in June and decided to register IU.
A short term goal for Napoli is to increase voter registration and turnout among IU students. One of Napoli’s long-term goals is to make students active citizens by helping them establish a habit of staying informed and engaged in democracy.
In the 2012 presidential election, 41 percent of IU-Bloomington students voted.
Napoli said she hopes through an increase in civic engagement, democracy will become stronger.
“When you see voter turnout is low, it’s kind of discouraging for democracy,” Napoli said. “One of the ways to keep it alive is by having people vote.”
Shapshay said they have a three-step plan to get students involved in the challenge.
Shapshay, and others at PACE, already put reminders on the Canvas home page telling people to remember to vote. They are also in the process of creating an informational website to inform students a little more about Indiana’s candidates and their stances. The third step is “Walking Wednesdays,” where beginning Oct. 12, students will meet on campus each Wednesday and walk to Bloomington’s Election Central to vote during Indiana’s early voting period.
“We’re hoping we can empower students to register to vote and exercise their democratic power,” Shapshay said.
Although the 2016 election is a little strange, Shapshay said she was pleased with the student turnout at the Bernie Sanders rally last April. This showed that students are becoming more involved and more interested in the political process, she added.
Shapshay said she encourages students to take that same enthusiasm and make sure they register to vote.
To promote participation in the challenge, IU will have numerous activities during the semester. Activities include panel discussions, informal lectures, among others.
On Oct. 4, law professors and political science faculty members will come together for an Office of the Provost “hot topics” panel discussion. On Oct. 12, IU will have a kickoff party for “Walking Wednesdays” called Walk2Vote. Although the details aren’t finalized, Shapshay said there will be music, food and speakers before the group leaves to vote.
PACE will also be partnering with numerous student organizations on campus, including the IU Student Association, the Civic Leaders Center and others to help increase student voter turnout.
“Collaboration is what makes this challenge more invigorating,” Napoli said.
