Four out of five eligible student voters at Washington University in St. Louis will not vote in the midterm elections Nov. 6. And that’s if all goes well.
In 2014, only 15.7 percent of students voted in the midterms compared to the national university average of 19.1 percent. The Gephardt Institute, through our WashU Votes initiative, wants to increase that number to at least 20 percent through a number of programs and initiatives starting Monday, Sept. 24, with National Voter Registration Week.
“Voter engagement is complex,” said Stephanie Kurtzman, the Peter G. Sortino Director of the Gephardt Institute. “Voter registration is a critical piece of the puzzle but just one piece. It’s also important to engage students in the process of democracy, encourage them to make informed decisions on their ballots, and help them to develop a concrete plan to get to the polls and actually vote.”
Learn more about our voter registration and engagement efforts in The Source.