UD partners with TurboVote to expand on-campus voter outreach

9:09 a.m., Sept. 30, 2014--The University of Delaware is partnering with TurboVote, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, to adopt an innovative “one-stop-shop” voter engagement platform that will make voting easier for students. 

UD is one of only 100 institutions across the country that have been awarded discounted access to the TurboVote tool through a grant provided by the Rita Allen Foundation. Students can access the site by clicking here.

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The Student Government Association (SGA) is the funding partner at the University this year, with hopes to secure funding for future years. 

“I hope that this will become an engagement tool,” Ben Page-Gil, president of SGA, said. “Students will have an easier way to become civically involved while away from home.” 

SGA was put in contact with TurboVote through Danna Young, associate professor of communication.

Students can sign up for email and text message alerts for elections, as well as register to vote and request an absentee ballot. All services are provided free to students.

Two of the nation’s leading higher education associations — the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) and the Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education (NASPA) — are partnering with TurboVote to support implementation of the Rita Allen Foundation grant. 

Through partnership with TurboVote, AASCU and NASPA hope to help member institutions improve voter engagement efforts on their campuses and use civic engagement as a mechanism to achieve broader learning objectives.

“NASPA members have a unique opportunity to promote democratic engagement across the many channels of the co-curriculum," said NASPA President Kevin Kruger. "We are excited to add TurboVote to the tools used to educate students for citizenship both inside and outside the classroom.”  

In joining the NASPA and AASCU cohort of TurboVote institutions, Page-Gil said it is hoped UD will help set a new standard for voter engagement in higher education.

“We hope that our participation in this exciting project will send a message to other institutional leaders that civic learning should be a core part of every student’s education, and that colleges and universities have an important role to play in advancing practices that will lead to life-long democratic engagement,” Page-Gil said.