Weber State University Joins Campuses Nationwide in Effort to be ‘Voter Friendly’
OGDEN, Utah – Weber State University has been named a “Voter Friendly Campus.”
The initiative, led by national nonpartisan organizations Fair Elections Center’s Campus Vote Project (CVP) and NASPA – Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education, held 231 participating institutions accountable for planning and implementing practices that encourage their students to register and vote in 2020 elections and in the coming years.
As part of the effort to be designated a voter friendly campus, Weber State registered 1,100 students through TurboVote, with students from 21 states represented in the registration process. Twenty-six departments on campus assisted in the voter registration progress. During the election, 731 ballots were collected from the campus ballot box (affectionately nicknamed “Waldo”) located near Stewart Library.
The mission of the Voter Friendly Campus designation is to bolster efforts that help students overcome barriers to participating in the political process. Weber State was evaluated on its campus plan to register, educate and turnout student voters in 2020; how it facilitated campus voter-engagement efforts; with a final analysis of those efforts in the face of the upheaval caused by a global pandemic.
In the lead up to the 2020 election, Weber State held several in-person and online events to get students engaged in the voting process, including a Voter Education Week from Oct. 5-9, 2020. The university hosted three debate watch parties for the presidential and U.S. House races, allowing students and community members to discuss the races in a virtual space; invited speakers from county and state offices to talk about issues like voting by mail and the importance of voting for judges; and held an Expedition Vote scavenger hunt that included service projects, pictures and videos related to elections.
The university has made a strong statement about the civic mission of higher education to prepare students to be engaged participants in democracy and plans to continue in that work.
Weber State has always been dedicated to giving students the tools they need to do amazing things in their lives, said Leah Murray, academic director of the Olene S. Walker Institute of Politics & Public Service.
“We know that to do amazing things, students need to be active and engaged citizens in their community,” Murray said. “One aspect of this being educated enough to feel confident enough to vote in elections. We participate in the Voter Friendly challenge so we can ensure that our students have the political tools they need to change the world.”
The institutions designated Voter Friendly Campuses represent a wide range of two-year, four-year, public, private, rural and urban campuses. Notably, the list of designated institutions includes many Minority Serving Institutions and Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
The designation is valid through December 2022.
Visit weber.edu/wsutoday for more news about Weber State University.
Jessica Kokesh, social media editor
801-626-7948 • jessicakokesh@weber.edu- Contact:
Leah Murray, Olene S. Walker Institute of Politics & Public Service academic director
801-626-6694 • lmurray@weber.edu