Webinar: Preparing Your Campus for the 2024 Elections (June 20, 2024)
The 2024 elections are likely to be polarizing and divisive, and could result in the next wave of tough campus conversations and possible unrest. This webinar offered campus leaders with insights on preparing for and managing the gamut of issues that likely will arise: from the Dos and Don’ts of required voter registration and access procedures to political expression and engagement on campus. (See PowerPoint Presentation)
MODERATOR:
Barbara K. Mistick, D.B.A., President, NAICU
SPEAKERS:
Joel Buckman, Partner, Hogan Lovells
Leslie Reynolds, Executive Director, National Association of Secretaries of State
Teresa Valerio Parrot, Principal, TVP Communications
NAICU Issue Brief: Political Activity on Campus
Colleges and universities are natural places for political discourse and activity. As such, there are laws, rules, and regulations that provide guidance parameters to colleges about what they can and cannot do on campus during elections. The Higher Education Act, Internal Revenue Service, and Federal Election Commission all have guidelines directing institutions of higher education on what they must do and what activities institutions may or may not engage in while maintaining their non-profit 501 (c)(3) status.
Campus Vote Project Student Voter Engagement Handbook
The CVP Student Voter Engagement Handbook provides step-by-step guidance for driven students to raise awareness around voting at their college or university. It provides a tested format for students to work with peers, administrators, and community members to engage fellow students.
Student Voting and College Political Campaign Activities in 2024
Published by the American Council on Education (ACE), this issue brief focuses on the institutional opportunities and obligations to encourage and enable student voting and attentiveness to campus political campaign–related activities. It offers illustrative examples of what is likely to be permissible and impermissible. It does not seek to address other issues, such as freedom of speech and civility.
Web Resources
The following organizations offer resources on elections, politics, and voter registration and education.
U.S. Election Assistance Commission
The Election Assistance Commission, established by the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA), is an independent, bipartisan commission charged with developing guidance to meet HAVA requirements, adopting voluntary voting system guidelines, and serving as a national clearinghouse of information on election administration. The EAC also maintains the national mail voter registration form developed in accordance with the National Voter Registration Act of 1993.
U.S. Vote Foundation
Students can use the U.S. Vote Foundation website for voter registration services and to request absentee ballots for all states across the national and around the globe.
The National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE)
The National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE) offers colleges and universities an opportunity to learn their student registration and voting rates and, for interested campuses, a closer examination of their campus climate for political learning and engagement and correlations between specific student learning experiences and voting.
CaniVote.org
A nonpartisan website created by state election officials through the National Association of Secretaries of State to help eligible voters figure out how and where to vote.
Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE)
An excellent source of data on the civic and political participation of young Americans, including the voting patterns of youth and of college students specifically.
League of Women Voters
This nonpartisan political organization has worked since 1920 to improve the U.S. systems of government and impact public policies through citizen education and advocacy.
Overseas Vote Foundation
For faculty and students who will be out of the country for the election, this site offers detailed information and easy-to-use tools for registering to vote and receiving an absentee ballot overseas.
Project Vote Smart
A nonpartisan organization with information on how to register to vote in each state, bios and voting records for members of Congress, and more.
Rock the Vote
A non-profit, non-partisan organization founded in 1990, Rock the Vote engages youth in the political process by incorporating the entertainment community and youth culture into its activities.
Turbo Vote
The non-profit, nonpartisan organization Democracy Works is dedicated to bringing the awesomeness of the Internet to the process of democracy. TurboVote—their first project—launched in September 2010 based on the idea that voting should fit the way we live.
VoteRiders
A national nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, VoteRiders provide free information and help to voters to make sure they have the right kind of ID to vote in their state. We are the leading organization focused exclusively on voter ID.