What is Your School Doing to Celebrate the Civic Holidays?
The civic holidays are non-partisan holidays developed to bring together citizens from across the country to celebrate and strengthen our democracy! These holidays include National Voter Registration Day, National Voter Education Week, Vote Early Day, and Election Hero Day. You can learn more about each of these special days at CivicHolidays.org.
Thousands of organizations and universities have joined up to celebrate these civic holidays and we want to know what you and your school/organization is doing to participate? But first, take a look at what RU Voting is doing on the Rutgers New Brunswick campus. RU Voting is an initiative by the Eagleton Institute’s Center for Youth Political Participation designed to increase student civic engagement and get young people to the polls.
On Early Voting Day, October 26, 2023, RU Voting held voting drives across the school’s four campuses. The organization offered students the option to sign up for absentee ballots and check their polling locations using QR codes and other resources available at the table. They also offered free donuts, apple cider, and RU Voting swag items to get students excited about voting.
RU Voting carries out many other initiatives in an effort to get Rutgers students to the polls. They host dozens of voting and registration drives, tabling across all four campuses with the help of student-interns and other passionate volunteers. These drives are typically very successful, increasing student engagement with elections on the whole and even getting several to register to vote, fill out an absentee ballot, or make a plan to vote. RU Voting also hosts several social media pages, where they create and share educational voting content tailored towards college students.
Overall, RU Voting is an example of a successful initiative to get out the vote on a college campus, as it specifically targets college students and creates a judgment-free environment where young people have the opportunity to learn about voting and elections. It then provides them with the necessary tools to make it happen.
Now we want to hear from you! What types of activities and outreach is your school doing in order to engage citizens in the election process? What have you had the most success with?
Leave us a message on our social media! Here are the options:
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