NU Votes, a non-partisan program that aims to boost student votership, helped 1,200 new students register to vote during Wildcat Welcome, according to Katrina Weimholt, assistant director of the Center for Civic Engagement.
Founded in 2010 under the Center for Civic Engagement, NU Votes has served as an integral source for students for information about voter registration and voting procedures. That includes resources for absentee voting, mail-in ballots, registration changes and printing and mailing services.
Students can also work NU Votes as student ambassadors and fellows.
Weinberg and Communications junior Philip Blumberg is an NU Votes Fellow. He said he joined the program his sophomore year to get involved in civic engagement. Coming from the Washington, D.C. area, he was particularly interested in mobilizing student votership.
“Everyone understands the importance of having your say in your government, voting on the issues that matter to you,” Blumberg said. “What we really want to do is just make it as easy as possible for them to vote.”
NU Votes started off as a grassroots initiative by some students and faculty who tried to encourage people to register and vote, Weimholt said.
When the CCE was founded in 2009, Weimholt said the members of the initiative asked that CCE become the home for voter engagement.
As part of the Higher Education Act of 1998, universities that receive federal funding are required to offer every student the opportunity to register to vote.
“The center started the NU Votes initiative and piloted an initiative to see what would happen if we tried to implement not just the letter of that law but the actual spirit,” Weimholt said. “How could we actually try to check in with every student and get them registered and get them to vote?”
In 2011, NU Votes began reaching out to students to vote while they were in line to get their University ID cards from Norris University Center. This new method took inspiration from the Motor Voter Act, which required states to provide voter registration opportunities when people applied or renewed their license.
“We would find that something like 30-40% of incoming students would come to Northwestern already registered to vote, but by the end of that orientation period when folks had gotten their WildCards, we would get those rates up to like 90% or higher,” Weimholt said.
To promote voter engagement across the country, NU Votes also developed UVote, a program focused on teaching other colleges and universities the “ask every student” model of voter engagement, Weimholt said.
The program received acclaim and was praised by Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.). The program ran until 2016, when funding dried up, Weimholt said.
As NU Votes grew, services like voter education programs, service stations, online tools, a student ambassador program and a van for early voting were added to keep voter registration high, she said.
“In the 2016 election and the 2018 election, our registration and voting rates just skyrocketed and are much higher than actually the national average, not just for colleges and universities, but in some cases, for all U.S. citizens,” Weimholt said.
From Sept. 25 to Oct. 2, NU Votes is hosting campus-wide voter service stations that provide resources for registering to vote.
Members from the program will be in Sargent Lobby on Sept. 30 and Oct. 2. On Oct. 1, they will be in the Norris Main Entrance from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Weinberg sophomore Alex Arnold attended one of the voter service stations Friday, saying it was the perfect opportunity to ensure that all his voter registration details were up to date.
“If (NU Votes) wasn’t here, I would have possibly showed up to a voting station and not been able to vote,” Arnold said.
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Related Stories:
— The Daily Explains: A guide to voting in the 2024 presidential election for NU students
— Captured: Wildcats cast their votes for the 2022 midterm elections
— NUVotes and local colleges’ initiatives encourage voting, civic engagement
