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Checklist of Things to Do & Who to Contact

to Engage Students in the Electoral System

Get Students Registered to Vote. Help them register each other. (e.g. Occidental College, San

Francisco State

• Check registration deadline in your state

• Get administration, faculty, coaches and students on board — contact college president, registrar,

department chairs, student groups, housing office Build local coalitions (e.g. San Francisco State)

• Involve student groups and recruit volunteers (e.g. San Francisco State) — contact PIRGs, student 

 government, Young Republicans/Democrats, etc

• Distribute voter registration forms and make voter registration part of your campus:

Incorporate into course registration packets and online course registration — contact Registrar 

Include in paychecks, loan disbursements, course catalogs — contact financial aid, payroll,

registrar, campus publications

Incorporate into student orientations — contact orientation director/student affairs office

Mail registration forms to all students

Distribute national mail-in registration form Door-to- door Visits in student housing — contact RAs, housing office

Add online voter registration links to campus & student websites — contact webmasters

Distribute registration forms in classes —  contact department heads, faculty organizations and individual faculty

Set up registration drives at campus events (e.g. athletic events) and in student residence halls — contact housing office and student government 

Use technologies like Facebook — link with YourRevolution.org 

• Recruit students/faculty as voter registrars and volunteers

In each department

In each dormitory, sorority, fraternity — contact housing office and inter-fraternity or Pan-

 Hellenic councils To set up tables in high-traffic campus locations (student unions, administrative offices, dining

halls, bookstores, libraries, sporting events, etc.)

To register voters at campus events (blood drives, speakers, other events)

• Increase visibility of voter registration efforts

Advertise with handbills, posters etc. — contact student government 

Leave voicemails, text messages and email reminders to register (especially close to deadlines)

 — contact campus technology staff 

Make announcements at unusual places 

Hold parties and a kickoff event to register students

Work with campus and local media — contact reporters• Connect with other campuses and borrow effective strategies

Utilize interactive online tools (Facebook,  blogs, other social networking, twitter , wikis — see

YourRevolution.org for how students can email their Facebook friends to see if they're

registered)

• Create drop-off locations for registration forms (count, publicize and send them in)

• Keep track of registered voters for follow-up

Encourage On and Off-Campus Engagement about Issues, Ballot Initiatives and Candidates

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• Hold events & develop materials to educate students — contact student programs and organizations

(for co-sponsorships) and facilities (for locations).

• Create forums for student dialogue

• Publicize/explain ballot initiatives (e.g. design materials, handout handbills, posters)

• Incorporate election-related discussions into classes (e.g. freshman seminar )

• Encourage students to volunteer with political campaigns consistent with their political beliefs

Connect student volunteers with national and local campaigns and their campus representatives

 — campus service should be a central resource, include information on College Republicans and 

College Democrats, McCain's and Obama's national websites, ways to get involved in local and  statewide political races.

Have students participate in off-campus projects, like voter registration efforts in

underrepresented communities. (e.g. Baldwin Wallace project that registered 700 students at

local jails). Work through Student Activities or service learning center. Contact the political 

 parties, groups like League of Women Voters and Project Vote

If students want to make an impact in other states, remind them that both parties and campaigns

have remote voter calling programs where volunteers in states with less tightly contested

elections can use their cell minutes to call people in states that are more contested.

• Link with campus service learning and civic engagement efforts

Incorporate election volunteering into service learning courses (e.g. freshman seminar ) — contact service learning center and faculty groups

Create election-related service project (e.g. community educational forum)

Organize service days where campaigns participate in campus service projects — contact 

campaigns and service projects

• Organize events (debates, fairs, forums, screenings of debates, etc.) with candidates and campaign

representatives (e.g. barbecue, political action days , DebateWatch) — contact student groups and 

academic departments such as political science, geography & communications

• Create website with info and links about issues

Include links to help student find relevant races, issues, and ways to participate

Summarize voting record information. See the League of Women Voters resource site andVotesmart.org

Help Students Vote on (or before) Election Day

Before election

Establish and promote an on-campus polling place  — contact local elections office

Absentee ballots (tips) — contact local elections office or get online

Voting while abroad

Design and distribute a pledge to vote

Encourage students to volunteer at polling places

Familiarize new voters with the process — contact county election board Right before or during election 

• Get out the Vote initiatives (e.g. San Francisco State)

Set up phone banks to remind students to vote

Purchase copy of voter file — contact county election board 

Use lists you’ve kept from voter registration drives

Help students get to their off campus polling sites (organize walking, rides to polls)

Encourage faculty to release students early from class on election day

Send broad email, text message, etc. to remind students to vote

• Publicize polling places

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• Election night open houses (e.g. Central Michigan U)

• Poster, leaflet and use other creative ways to visibly remind people to vote

• Find ways for the more active students to enlist their less-engaged peers, and ensure that every

registered student votes