ADP’s Electoral Voices monograph available for free Download as PDF

In 2006, AASCU’s American Democracy Project published Electoral Voices – Engaging College Students in Elections, a best practices guide. Until recently, this monograph has been for sale in the AASCU online bookstore. Now, in time for planning for the 2012 national election, we’re re-releasing the guide as a free, downloadable PDF.

At the time of publication, George Mehaffy wrote in the Foreword, “As we approach yet another series of national and state elections, we hope this monograph will assist our colleagues in higher education, both within the American Democracy Project, and beyond. We wanted to capture the best insights, perspectives, and examples that we could find and share then with others for use in the upcoming and future election cycles.” Mehaffy’s words still ring true today; ADP’s electoral voices efforts continue as part of our Political Engagement Project, as well as through campus-specific programs and our affiliation with the Campus Vote Project. These efforts may be even more important now given the number of states with new Voter ID laws that may disproportionally effect college students.

This volume focuses on voter education, voter registration, and voter participation, as well as on how best to assess these efforts.

Below you’ll find the Table of Contents for the monograph. We hope you’ll read and share this work as we all work together to ensure that our students are prepared to be informed, engaged citizens – not only in the public sphere, but also at the polls.

Electoral Voices: Engaging College Students in Elections                          (Edited by Jim Perry)

• Foreword, George Mehaffy (Vice President, Academic Leadership and Change, AASCU)
• Introduction, Jim Perry (Campus ADP Director, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis)
• Voter Registration, Harry Basehart (Co-Director, PACE Institute, Salisbury University) and Jim Perry
• Voter Education, Richard Kendrick (ADP Campus Coordinator, SUNY Cortland) and Jim Perry
• Voter Participation, Matthew Manweller (Assistant Professor of Political Science) and Jim Perry
• Assessing Electoral Engagement, Elizabeth Bennion (ADP Campus Director, Indiana University South Bend)
• Challenges, Pitfalls and Lessons, Jim Perry
• References
• Appendix I: Campus Case Studies
• Appendix II: Case Study Template
• Appendix III: AASCU Survey of Member Institutions
• Appendix IV: Organizations Increasing Youth’s Electoral Voice
• Acknowledgements, Jim Perry

Download the Electoral Voices (2006) monograph here.