The 2024 General Election is almost here, and as the nation focuses on the issues, the candidates, and the politics, the Gephardt Institute has also spent thousands of staff hours encouraging civic engagement, helping students get ready to vote, and preparing to host campus polling places.
When November ends, the Gephardt Institute will have hosted or supported 54 election-related events, four polling places over three elections, reached thousands of WashU students, and communicated essential election information to every student, faculty and staff member of the WashU community. It’s all part of the “Engage Democracy 2024”election participation series.
“This is by far the largest and most comprehensive voter engagement and election effort that the Gephardt Institute has mounted to date, and likely the most robust voter engagement effort in WashU’s history,” said Stephanie Kurtzman, Executive Director of the institute. “Our Gephardt staff and incredible team of WashU Votes student leaders have worked tirelessly to ensure that every student has the resources, accurate information, and encouragement to participate in our democracy by voting and engaging in the electoral process. We’re building the habit of voting that we hope continues throughout students’ lives as they become alumni, and also influences the voting habits of their families and networks.”
Since Jan. 1, 3,360 people have used the WashU TurboVote voter registration portal. Of those, 2,333 sought to register to vote and 1,162 checked their voter registration. Countless others were already registered to vote, or registered directly through their state’s procedures.
The extent of Engage Democracy 2024’s reach and impacts comes from the Gephardt Institute’s years of experience with federal and municipal elections and best practices in student civic engagement. It’s also the result of a strategic planning process that began two years ago.
“Our 2022 Midterm Election voter engagement efforts went very well, but after a week’s rest that November, we got back to work debriefing that election cycle, learning what worked and where we needed improvements, and then we began planning for 2024,” said Alannah Glickman, Associate Director for Civic Engagement. “There were a lot of long meetings, late nights after events, and early mornings setting up polling places, but I’m so proud of what we’ve accomplished this year.”
It’s truly a university-wide effort and it’s remarkable to see the campus community come together in the spirit of exercising our precious right to vote.”
Stephanie Kurtzman, Executive Director of the Gephardt Institute
Among the latest of those accomplishments is the establishment of a second on-campus polling place to serve voters on the WashU School of Medicine campus. The boundary between St. Louis City and St. Louis County creates two election jurisdictions for most of the Danforth Campus and the Medical Campus, and in the past City voters have been directed off campus to vote.
Earlier in October, the City of St. Louis Board of Election Commissioners agreed that the School of Medicine could be a site for a new polling place.
“Hosting a St. Louis City polling place has been a dream for years now,” Glickman said. “After working extensively with our School of Medicine colleagues and the Board of Elections, we were finally able to make it happen.”
That announcement came after the Gephardt Institute and WashU hosted, for the first time, on-campus polling places in April for the Missouri Municipal Election and in August for the Missouri Primary. Both elections saw strong turnout at the WashU polling places. The Gephardt Institute aims to host polling places in every election moving forward.
The broad-ranging 2024 voter engagement efforts included conversation and dialogue events meant to spark deeper thinking on the issues that hosted students in the dozens, as well as large debate watch and speaker events that drew hundreds. Such events continue until Election Day on Tuesday and beyond, with programming like “Election Lunch & Learns,” to help students process the election, understand the results, and continue their journey of involvement with democracy.
To ensure that the WashU community was informed and prepared for the election, the institute sought innovative and comprehensive ways to reach voters. After working with WashU University Resources, every first-year student resident on campus received essential voting information that was included with their residence hall room key. Flyers with Engage Democracy 2024 information and events were on most tabletops in WashU Dining areas during the fall semester. Banners on light posts and digital information signs on campus have displayed voter registration and voting requirements since Sept. 1. WashU Votes members knocked on every South 40 student resident’s door on Sept. 26 to share voting information during “Canvass the Campus.”
“Every election is important, but an election of national consequence is a can’t-miss opportunity to get students prepared and engaged with the presidential election, and build their commitment to vote in every future election,” said Civic Engagement Manager Otto Brown. “And it’s not just Gephardt that recognizes that. We’ve had so much cooperation and enthusiastic participation from our WashU campus partners, who have been instrumental in the creation and implementation of our plans.”
Across WashU, schools and departments joined the institute’s university-wide Voter Engagement Hub network—16 places on campus where students can learn essential and nonpartisan voting information. Throughout the calendar year, the Hubs disseminated voter information to students, invited expert guest speakers to campus, and volunteered their time to boost informed voter registration and engagement at WashU.
The institute also worked with university leaders to send emails to every WashU student, faculty and staff email address, before key dates like Missouri’s voter registration deadline, and this week, to remind voters to make their voting plan, share nonpartisan voter resources, and detail logistics for voting early, absentee, or on Election Day. Those mass emails complemented voter information placed in newsletter items, social media posts, course syllabi, and events hosted by campus partners.
“The level of engagement, collaboration, and dialogue leading up to Election Day is palpable across the university,” said Kurtzman. “It’s truly a university-wide effort and it’s remarkable to see the campus community come together in the spirit of exercising our precious right to vote. We will each undoubtedly cast different votes based on our own convictions. Importantly, we at WashU are showing up for democracy in one of the most fundamental ways.”