ADP Campuses in the News | April 2016 Edition

ADP Campuses in the News | April 2016 Edition

ADP in the News is a compilation of brief updates about American Democracy Project (ADP) activities at participating colleges and universities and is a semi-regular news feature on our blog. Below you will find the latest edition of this series.

California University of Pennsylvania: Alan Abramowitz, a political scientist at Emory University in Atlanta, made a point during a discussion of the 2016 presidential election at an event sponsored by ADP at Cal U. He believes this year’s contest will be similar to those in 2012 or 2004 – that two candidates will end up separated in the popular vote by about three or four points, and the Electoral College tally will hinge on the results in swing states like Ohio, Florida and Virginia.

Fort Hays State University (Kan.): Anna Hand, an Ellsworth senior majoring in political science at Fort Hays State University, is a recipient of the 2016 Newman Civic Fellows Award, which honors the late Frank Newman, one of Campus Compact’s founders.  She has worked with the American Democracy Project and presidential campaigns. She has dedicated a lot of her time to get-out-the-vote efforts, which informs people on how to vote and when elections happen. To read more about Anna Hand and the award, click here.

Georgia College: Dillon Johnstone is a Truman Scholar finalist. The Texas native served in the Army for five and a half years and is currently still in the Reserves and has always thought of his community first. Johnstone was nominated by Anna Whiteside, who attended the community forum on the proposed unification of Milledgeville and Baldwin County which Johnstone helped organize; the event was sponsored by the American Democracy Project.

Indiana State University: Students like Michael Shepard are working on an effort to register new voters in a demographic group that will be crucial to Indiana’s primary elections on May 3. Signing up students to vote is a key first step, said Indiana State University political scientist Carly Schmitt, who oversees the university’s American Democracy Project and over the past few weeks has registered 500 new voters on campus. To learn more how students are registering, click here.

ISU’s American Democracy Project , asked the Election Board to allow ISU to serve as an early-voting site and voting center for the upcoming May 3 Indiana primary and the Nov. 8 general election. With university president Dan Bradley presenting the idea, the college offered to provide the necessary voting equipment and  free parking to a university  that has more than 13,500 students attend the university and another 1,500 people work there. To learn more about the story, click here.

Indiana University South Bend (Ind.): The League of Women Voters of the South Bend Area has published its nonpartisan 2016 Primary Election guide, www.VOTE411.org, a one-stop shop for election information on key races for St. Joseph County voters at all levels, including president, Congress, county council, commissioner, surveyor, treasurer and recorder.

University of Nebraska at Kearney: University of Nebraska at Kearney students presented their civic engagement projects during UNK Talks on April 6, 2016. Organized by the UNK American Democracy Project, UNK Talks were inspired by TED Talks. Five students presented their projects for 8 to 12 minutes in front of a panel of judges. To learn more about the presenters and the winner, click here.