Providence, RI — Campus Compact has launched its 2008 Campus Vote Initiative with a new voting website aimed at helping students and others on campus take part in the democratic process. The new, nonpartisan website offers a host of information on voter registration and education, along with activities, tools, templates, and more: /vote/.
The website is designed to help students and others on campus get involved in their democracy by learning about the election process, studying campaign issues, organizing voter registration drives, holding civic dialogues, and connecting service activities with civic knowledge and action. In addition to general information, the site offers models of campus activity from across the country, ideas for additional activities, and even design templates for flyers, stickers, buttons, and door hangers.
"Students are already civic-minded and regularly engage in volunteer activities to improve their communities," says Maureen F. Curley, President of Campus Compact. "Campus Compact is raising the bar for campus engagement and encouraging students to participate in their democracy by getting involved in the elections."
According to recent reports by the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement (CIRCLE), young Americans are voting in record numbers. Both the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries showed record-high turnout for people under 30.
As part of the 2008 Campus Vote Initiative, Campus Compact is partnering with CIRCLE as well as other organizations to bring students a wide range of resources on democracy and voting. Information on the new voting website includes CIRCLE'S recent report "Millennials Talk Politics: A Study of College Student Civic Engagement"; Mobilize.org's Democracy 2.0 Declaration; and a schedule of screenings and related activities for democracy-related films from ITVS, an affiliate of PBS.
An important aspect of the initiative is to keep issues of democratic participation on the minds of students in between election seasons and to encourage students to vote in local races as well as in high-profile national elections. To that end, Campus Compact has developed a series of ongoing activities and programs for students as well as those related directly to the upcoming elections. "Our goal is to create lifelong citizens," notes Curley. "We developed this initiative as part of our overall strategy for achieving this goal."