Voter Registration

Voter registration is often the most significant hurdle in mobilizing students to vote.

Be encouraged, there are a lot of resources for you to utilize as an organizer. But, you need to determine what is best for your campus (atmosphere). Here are some suggestions:

• Distribute Voter Registration Forms

  There are many ways to facilitate voter registration on campus, primarily through distributing voter registration forms. A National Mail Voter Registration Form is available for download from the FEC.

  • Download the student PIRGs’ registration widget to allow students to register through your website.
  • Attach a voter registration form to each course registration form or distribute with course registration materials.
  • Include voter registration information in paychecks, with student loan disbursements, and in course catalogs. See Oxy Votes from Occidental College
  • Mass mail voter registration forms to all students.
  • Encourage faculty to discuss and distribute voter registration materials in class.
  • Don’t forget absentee ballots!

• Spread the word

  • Create a link on the university homepage to a voter registration site such as US Election Assistance Commission or use campus wide email network to inform students that voter registration materials are available on the web.
  • Leave voice messages to remind students to register, and registration event days
  • Send text message (SMS) reminders about the election, and registration events
  • Announce reminders in unusual places — Download free templates!
    • Halftime of athletic games
    • Intermission of performances
    • Post information in the restroom (even in the stalls, especially in freshman dorm building)

• Mobilize your campus

  • Build a coalition, this will spread out the work, see San Francisco State University’s program for ideas.
  • See the campaign toolkit from the Student PIRGs’ nonpartisan New Voters Project for organizing guides and tips for how to run a successful voter registration and get-out-the-vote project on your campus.
  • Involve the faculty, staff, administration, professors, coaches, student groups and as many others as possible
  • Inititate door to door visits to campus housing UC Santa Barbara used this approach to register 2400 students in a single evening.
  • Hold a party in which students must register at the door to enter
    • Have registration tables available, but use clipboards for a more personal, one-to-one approach
    • Use music to attract attention
    • If you wear organization t-shirts to events you can just tell people to see the individuals in those t-shirts, for example.
    • Print stickers to identify those who have registered. Download the free sticker template.

See also Campus Vote Initiative Activities