PRESS RELEASE from the Fair Elections Legal Network

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For more information:
February 8, 2012 Josh Spaulding


Washington, DC – Today, the Fair Elections Legal Network (FELN) launched the Campus Vote Project (CVP), a campaign to empower college students by providing them the tools and support to work with college administrators and local election officials to institutionalize best practices that will provide voter information, increase student participation in elections and overcome barriers to the ballot often faced by students.

Millennials (18-29 year olds), comprise nearly a quarter of eligible voters this year. While making up an increasing share of the electorate, young adults still vote at lower levels than older Americans. In 2010, for example, only 22.8% of eligible voters under 30 voted, compared to 40.8% of all eligible voters casting ballots.

Students, in particular, face extra barriers to voting as they often are moving into a new community for school. Some of the barriers they report include: not knowing voter registration rules and deadlines; not having acceptable ID for voter registration or voting purposes; confusion about where to vote; a lack of transportation to the polls; and occasionally, being confronted by unfriendly or unsympathetic elections officials or poll workers.

CVP will address this problem by providing students the tools and guidance to assist them in determining barriers students on their campus face and identifying opportunities to address those barriers, working in collaboration with college administrators and local election officials. A central feature on CVP’s website (www.campusvoteproject.org) is a toolkit that contains several guides to help figure out how to implement changes on campus. These guides range from organizing an election awareness campaign, integrating voter information into a school’s website, to making sure students have the right voter ID.

CVP will be guided by an advisory board of experts in student voting and organizing that include, William Kellebrew from Black Youth Vote, Abby Kiesa, youth coordinator & researcher at the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), Dick Kinsley, executive director of Ohio Campus Compact, Barmak Nassirian, associate executive director for external relations at the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO), Victor Sanchez, president of the United States Student Association (USSA), and Josh Young, director of the Miami Dade Community College Center for Community Involvement.

“Many students confront challenges that older voters do not face in casting their ballot. And over the past year, legislators in several states have made it even more difficult for students to vote by shortening early voting periods, putting restrictions on voter registration drives, and requiring a specific photo ID that many students lack,” said Robert Brandon, president of the Fair Elections Legal Network. “Our colleges and universities are the best vehicle to advance the civic education of their students and help them become more engaged citizens. Unless we take steps to overcome the barriers to voting students face, we will continue to see young adults underrepresented in our elections. With our institutional and student partners, Campus Vote Project will provide the tools for students to overcome obstacles to the ballot and increase student participation in our democracy.”

More information on the campaign can be found online at www.campusvoteproject.org.

Campus Vote Project (CVP) is a project of the Fair Elections Legal Network (FELN). FELN is a national, nonpartisan advocacy organization whose mission is to remove barriers to registration and voting for traditionally underrepresented constituencies and improve overall election administration through administrative, legal, and