Ball State University is one of 80 colleges and universities participating in an initiative to get more college students registered to vote. -á
The Young Voter Strategies Project and the American Association of State Colleges and Universities are working together to coordinate the project for Ball State and the other universities.
This is the first study performed to measure voter registration at colleges and universities, Aimee Ash, associate director of Student Life and coordinator of the study at Ball State University, said.
The AASCU noticed an overall lack of student voters on college campuses, she said. Therefore, it decided to do a study to measure what strategies are most effective in getting college students registered to vote, Ash said. -á
In 2004, the voter turnout rate among 18- to 24-year-olds raised about 11 percent during the presidential election, according to the Young Voter Registration Strategies Web site.
The goal is to register more than 500 Ball State students for this year's election using three different approaches. Mass mailings will be sent to students who live on-campus, and a series of e-mails will be sent over the next three weeks to all students, Ash said. Also, 15 Student Life graduate assistants will visit 60 classes to promote voter registration. -á
"I believe that this is good project," Annette Cote, a graduate assistant helping with the project, said. "It is beneficial for college-age students to get their voice heard,"-á
Data gathered from this project is expected to help the voter registration techniques on college campuses for future elections, Ash said.
A "Young Voter Toolkit" will be organized from the information gathered from the study, according to the Young Voter Strategies Project Web site. This toolkit will not only be available for college campuses to use, but for the general public and non-profit organizations as well.
The goal is not only to get students registered, but also to get them to vote. The registration information gathered from the study will be compared with poll statistics, according to Ash.
"This campus has always been successful in voter registration, but we don't know how many of those people actually vote," Ash said.-á
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