Campus Sustainability Month 2018: Nonpartisan Engagement and the November Elections
National Association of Independent Colleges & Universities, AASHE, Higher Education Associations Sustainability Consortium (HEASC)
Video Content
Description
The theme for this year’s Campus Sustainability Month is Nonpartisan Engagement and the November Elections. Please join AASHE and the Higher Education Associations Sustainability Consortium (HEASC) as we explore this important opportunity in a webinar featuring Campus Election Engagement Project founder Paul Loeb and the National Campus Voter Registration Project’s Your Vote Your Voice national co-coordinator Robert Bo Newsome.
What would be the impact if students turned out to vote? In 2014, 80% stayed home. Campus Election Engagement Project (CEEP) is working to change that. Paul will share stories about how to overcome barriers to student electoral participation, from confusing voter laws to youth who are cynical about politics. CEEP’s high-leverage approach helps colleges engage students in elections through nonpartisan candidate guides, sponsorship of passionate student fellows, and school-by-school tailored support plans. CEEP’s trusted, accurate information allows students to educate themselves and turn out at the polls to claim their right to vote.
CEEP engaged 300 schools in 2016, with a total enrollment of 3.5 million students, helping students participate in every close statewide race in the country. In 2017, CEEP helped increase voter turnout in various governor and senate races, plus prepared key schools for 2018 in 20 states.
“CEEP was our most important partner in our 2016 nonpartisan voter engagement efforts…We love CEEP and want to continue to expand our partnership.”–Josh Young, Civic Engagement Coordinator, Miami- Dade College’s 165,000-student system.
Your Vote Your Voice is co-chaired by the Presidents of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, and the Council of Independent Colleges. It is sponsored by the Washington Higher Education Secretariat, 54 associations representing all segments of the higher education community. It started in 1996, and gained more importance in 1998 when Congress mandated that all colleges and universities make a good-faith effort to distribute voter registration forms to all degree- or certificate-seeking students attending class on campus.
Please join us for this important and empowering webinar to help inform your planning for Campus Sustainability Month and help increase student participation in the November elections.
Additional Resources:
Using athletic departments to engage students: http://www.campuselect.org/uploads/1/1/6/8/11680869/athletic_departments_and_student_electoral_engagement.pdf
Creating your own nonpartisan candidate guides:: https://campuselect.org/voter-education/creating-your-own-nonpartisan-candidate-guides/
Your Vote Your Voice: Yourvoteyourvoice.org
National campus voter registration project Organizing Handbook: http://yourvoteyourvoice.org/campus-handbook/
Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE): www.civicyouth.org
Help with voter identification issues: https://www.voteriders.org/what-we-do/