University of Wisconsin Milwaukee Example Campus Vote Initiative Program
University of Wisconsin Milwaukee
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Vote for Me: Voting and Elections in the United States
This course is a freshman seminar focusing on the 2000 elections with a particular emphasis on voting. The course also has a service learning component to involve the students directly in the electoral process. The goal of the course is to make students more familiar with how elections are carried out in the U.S. and how and why people choose to vote (or fail to) through both academic study and hands-on participation.
The service learning component of the course will connect students with community and political organizations involved in voter turnout efforts. This experience will then be used as the students design and carry out a “get out the vote” drive on campus to stimulate voter participation among their fellow students. Since 18-25 year olds are the least likely to vote, the campus provides an ideal laboratory for the students to study voter apathy and work to combat it.
