For many voters, their first experience with casting a ballot is in college, and although university campuses tend to be hubs for political engagement, many students feel unprepared when it comes to voting in local, state, or federal elections. Information on polling locations, registration, absentee ballots, and important dates may be hard to find for first-time voters who don’t know where to look. It’s so important for colleges and universities, as the epicenter of campus community life, to help students put their best foot forward when it comes to political and civic engagement. That’s where the organization Voter Friendly Campus comes in.
Born from a partnership between Campus Vote Project and NASPA’s LEAD Initiative in 2016, Voter Friendly Campus was created to help colleges and universities create action plans to increase voter turnout and political participation on campuses nationwide. Voter Friendly Campus does this by creating manageable plans with concrete steps to help campus communities become more educated and engaged when it comes to elections of any kind.
Since its inception, Voter Friendly Campus has only continued to grow. By 2022, 38 states including Washington D.C. had colleges and universities marked as “Campus Designees” — a title indicating the Voter Friendly Campus stamp of approval — with 262 campuses part of the organization.
How To Tell If Your School Is A Voter Friendly Campus
If you want to know if your school is one of the colleges approved by Voter Friendly Campus, check out Voter Friendly Campus’s Campus Designees page. The website is a collection of campuses nationwide categorized by state that are recognized by Voter Friendly Campus. To find out if your college is an official Voter Friendly Campus, just click on your state, and it will lead you to a list of campuses that have the Voter Friendly Campus stamp of approval and title of “Campus Designee” — indicating that the college is space that supports democratic engagement for young voters.
How To Advocate For Your School To Become A Voter Friendly Campus
Don’t see your campus on the list, or do you just know your college could be a better place to help student voters? Voter Friendly Campus has a list of resources and guides to help students advocate for better on-campus voting environments and improve the campus community’s election engagement. Voter Friendly Campus also has specific guides to help campus communities start up their own election coalitions, as well as examples from other colleges of what their action plans and final projects looked like.
Once an action plan is created, coalitions can submit their statements to Voter Friendly Campus for review to become a Campus Designee. To make sure campus communities continue to adapt and improve for student voters, the designation is only valid for a year (student coalitions must submit for designation renewal annually).
Bestie, do you *actually* know how to vote? We’ve got everything you need to make sure you’re fully prepared for Nov. 5. Visit HowToActuallyVote.com for a step-by-step guide to making your voting plan.