Ongoing Youth Vote Activites

The following strategies are appropriate for use in conjunction with local and state elections that occur annually as well as for national elections. An important goal for campuses is to make voter registration an ongoing activity between election seasons and to encourage students to vote in local races as well as in high-profile national elections.

Ongoing Activities

• Registration/Orientation

  Make voter registration an annual effort by including information and applications in the registration packets incoming students receive at the beginning of first semester. Include registering to vote on the checklist of things that students must do during those first few days of orientation. You can also tie voter registration to the process students must go through to register for classes each semester like Oxy Votes; make it a prerequisite for becoming officially registered with the Registrar’s office. Get a The National Mail Voter Registration Form.

• Polling Location

  Find out from your local Supervisor of Elections what the procedures are for having your campus designated as a polling precinct. Especially on campuses with a large out-of-state population, students are not always familiar with the surrounding community and will be far more likely to vote if their polling place is located on campus. Securing a polling location on campus is likely to entail a fair amount of bureaucracy, so this should be initiated well in advance of election season. Look up your state’s election authorities.

• Blood Drives

  It is relatively common for local blood banks to hold periodic blood drives on campuses throughout the course of the semester. The donating of one’s blood is generally motivated by civic-mindedness, so take advantage of students’ concern for their community and encourage them to extend their civic involvement even further by registering to vote. Have information and forms available at the blood drive check-in table, and make your efforts visible by giving away stickers to those who register to vote.

• Campus Speakers

  An excellent way to make civic engagement a vibrant part of campus culture is to invite officeholders, leaders of the nonprofit sector, and other high-profile public servants to speak on your campus on a regular basis. This provides students with positive civic role models and sends the message that civic engagement is an important value to your institution.