Campus Engagement Resources
Last updated: 3/15/2022
The ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge has comprised a variety of resources created by the ALL IN team and partner organizations within the Students Learn Students Vote Coalition. We encourage you to share these resources through email, social media, and other online outlets (e.g., course management systems like BlackBoard, Canvas). Below are various resources to help you find up-to-date election information, help you plan for fall in-person and virtual democratic engagement, and help you develop your campus democratic engagement action plan. As the current climate evolves, we’ll continue to work to find, create, and share resources to help campuses move more of their engagement online.
We’ve compiled a Virtual Democratic Engagement Toolkit for campuses to learn more about strategies and creative ideas for virtual and in-person learning.
Additionally, we encourage you to read the Institute for Democracy & Higher Education’s Election Imperatives 2020 report.
Please email [email protected] with additional resources you’d like us to include. We also encourage you to join our Higher Education – Student Voter Engagement (HE-SVE) Google Group to pose questions and share resources in real time.
Campus Partners
Go to the Students Learn Students Vote coalition’s website to find local and national partners that can help support planning and implementation of democratic engagement on your campus and, in some cases, provide additional resources. The Students Learn Students Vote coalition has also put together this list of resources.
General Voting And Election Updates
- Fair Elections Center’s “Registering and Voting in the Era of COVID-19” report.
- Campus Vote Project’s State Student Guides have voter registration deadlines, ID requirements, and more information about the process of how, where, and when to vote.
- Follow your secretary of state or board of elections on social media and go to their websites for updates to voting and election updates and changes.
- Democracy Works has put together three election related resources:
- This resource with links to Secretary of State websites and other general state election information.
- This resource will help you find your local election information.
- Rock the Vote has created this state-specific election update site.
- The Brennan Center for Justice created this 50 state chart for online voter registration, vote-by-mail, and in-person voting.
- Campus Canvas Strategy for relational and peer-to-peer on campus organizing by Vote for Astra.
Online Voter Registration And Checking Voter Registration Status
- There are 39 states plus the District of Columbia that have online voter registration. Here is a list of states and their specific online voter registration sites.
- Additionally, you can use the nonpartisan website When We All Vote which will take users to their specific state online registration page. Your campus may already use a specific online voter registration tool.
- These states have Same Day Voter Registration or Election Day Voter Registration.
- For states that do not have online voter registration, you may be allowed to print a voter registration form and mail it in.
- We will research and share additional resources about best practices for voter registration for states that do not have online voter registration.
Vote-By-Mail / Absentee Ballot Requests
- Many students will need to vote absentee or vote-by-mail for the primaries and possibly the general election. The League of Women Voters has developed this online tool about the requirements and processes to request and secure an absentee ballot for each state.
- The Institute for Democracy & Higher Education (IDHE) at Tufts University has prepared this discussion guide titled “Making Sense of…The Vote-by-Mail Conversation.”
- Vote Riders has a database of identification (ID) requirements for voting absentee.
- Social media and emails will always be essential ways to share information with students and the campus community. We appreciate this social media post from the University of Wisconsin about requesting an absentee ballot, Keep Calm and Request an Absentee Ballot.
National Voter Registration Day (NVRD)
Hosted on Tuesday, September 20, 2022, National Voter Registration Day (annually the fourth Tuesday of September) is a holiday to encourage us to register to vote. Your campus can prepare plans for in-person and online voter registration drives. Your campus can do social media takeovers, produce videos from campus influencers, and develop other campaigns to raise awareness about registering to vote, checking your registration status to ensure it’s correct, and prepare for election day.
Vote Early Day
- Help support shorter lines during Election Day by celebrating Vote Early Day on Friday, October 28, 2022, to encourage more people to vote early. Host an event on campus and organize a party at the polling site or a parade or caravan to the polling site. Even if your state doesn’t have early voting, you can host an event for people to complete their mail-in ballots or research their ballots before voting on Election Day.
- Sign up your campus to be a Vote Early Day partner
#VoteTogether
Plan a celebration during early voting and/or on election day at the polling places on or near campus. #VoteTogether provides toolkits to help you host a party at the polls to celebrate election day and increase voter participation.
+1 The Polls
If your campus does not have a polling site on campus, work with partners to help bring a polling place to your campus with +1 the Polls.
Action Planning
- As you develop or update your campus democratic engagement action plan, the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge Resource Hub has example action plans, action planning guides and rubrics, and webinars to help you develop an action plan that hopefully includes some of the resources listed above.
- Here are additional resources to help you Ask Every Student if they will participate in the election. We encourage all campuses to include measures to strive for full student voter participation of eligible students!
- Democracy Works has developed an activity called Votes & Ballots that can help you fill in an action plan template and develop a time-based strategy poster with numerous strategy cards. This activity can be done virtually as a team and comes with an instruction video and downloadable action planning materials.
- Upcoming Action Plan Deadlines:
- ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge: May 31, 2022 & November 8, 2022
- Voter Friendly Campus: May 31, 2022
Issues And Ballot Research
- BallotReady has a great tool to research your ballot, find your polling place, send reminders to vote, and other tools and nudges to encourage informed participation.
- Vote Smart and Ballotpedia have additional resources to research candidates and your ballot.
- Ask Big Questions has tools to engage diverse participants in reflective conversations on big issues to build trust and understanding. This programming can be done over video conferencing platforms.
Poll Workers
The average poll worker is over 60 years old. With evolving voting technology, an aging cohort of poll workers, and risks like COVID-19 to older populations, now more than ever it’s vital that young people become poll workers. Go to Work Elections to look up poll working opportunities, requirements, and compensation near you.
Resources For Educators
The Campus Election Engagement Project (CEEP) has started to crowd source this #HigherEd Civic Engagement Resource Collection for Online Learning which includes lesson plans, multimedia, games, and quizzes.
Virtual National & State Summit List
A number of webinars and virtual state summits are being planned to replace in person summits. More information will be shared as it becomes available on our Important Dates webpage.
Social Media, Campus Website, And Email Examples
In addition to following state election officials’ offices on social media, we encourage you to follow the partners listed below for up-to-date election information.
ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge: @allintovote
Campus Vote Project: @CampusVote
Fair Elections Center: @fairerelections
Students Learn Students Vote Coalition: @slsvcoalition
When We All Vote: @WhenWeAllVote
- Campus COVID-19 Election Resource Page
- Absentee Ballot Request
- Campus Emails about Voting
- Census
- Election Day Celebrations
- Voter Registration