IUPUI Civic Engagement Assistants Ease Voter Registration Process

Each year, millions of Americans find themselves ineligible to vote because they either miss the opportunity to register, forget to update their registration, or are uneducated on the ways to register. Thanks to National Voter Registration Day, everyone has the opportunity to vote.

A holiday started in 2012, National Voter Registration Day is dedicated to helping Americans exercise their right to vote in the upcoming November elections. The Civic Engagement Assistants at IUPUI work throughout the year to specifically increase voter education turnout on campus and around Indianapolis.

Located on the first floor of the Campus Center, Civic Engagement Assistants were there to help unregistered voters complete everything they needed to be eligible. As well as registering, students were able to learn voting tips. 

“We are Civic Engagement Assistants, so we do Voter Registration tabling once a week. We also do events like mock elections, March to the Polls, and, of course, National Voter Registration Day. We celebrate National Voter Registration Day [as an attempt] to get more people to come out and register so they are prepared for the election this fall,” junior, Rylee Daul said. 

In 2016, IUPUI was ranked in the Top 60 Best Colleges for Student Voting by Washington Monthly magazine. According to the United States Census Bureau, the age group between 18 to 29-years-olds had the largest voter turnout in 2018. With a 79% jump, this was the largest percentage point increase for any age group.

“It is important for kids our age to vote because our generation is the next deciders of the world. If our generation wants to see a change, our generation has to be the change,” sophomore Christina Poetz said. 

This November, residents registered to vote in Marion County will have the opportunity to vote for mayor and for City-Council representatives. The deadline to register to vote in the November election in the state of Indiana is Oct. 7. Election day is Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2019.