IUPUI Holds Voter Registration Event to Encourage Student Voter Turnout

On December 9, IUPUI will hold another voter registration event. The event, which will take place from 2 PM to 4 PM in the Campus Center, is held to encourage IUPUI students to register to vote in upcoming elections.

According to statistics released by the state of Indiana, over 4.7 million people registered to vote in the 2020 general election, with roughly 65% of those people turning out to vote on election day. 

Going off census records, which state that roughly 6.7 million people live in the state of Indiana, that means that a majority of the state registered to vote. It’s important to note however, that the 2020 election was a high profile election that had record high turnout, and thus it is to be expected that lower profile elections, such as the 2022 election, will have a smaller turnout, hence the drive to get people to register to vote.

The drive to get college-aged people to vote can more than likely be attributed to them seemingly having a high impact on elections when they come out to vote. 

According to the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, “Our research reveals that young voters increased their turnout in 2020; they made the difference in key battleground states; and the participation and overwhelming support for President-elect Joe Biden from youth of color was one of the defining elements of the election.”

IUPUI is no stranger to getting good voter turnout, as it was recently recognized by Washington Monthly as one of best colleges for student voting in 2020.

This is in no small part to movements such as the Ask Every Student Initiative, which IUPUI joined in 2020, or to the numerous students who wander campus handing out information about voting and helping others sign up.

Dakota Bennett, an IUPUI student who is registered to vote, said that he would recommend people to sit down and think about whether voting is right for them personally. “I would not recommend either registering or not registering as that is something you have to decide if it is worthwhile for yourself and what you want to get done politically.”

According to Angel Jaeger, a woman who isn’t registered to vote but plans to, “Voting is our right as citizens and I think that It’s really important that everyone vote, regardless of how inconvenient it may be.”

While there are no planned statewide elections in 2021, there could be local ones and thus It’s important to learn what is on your ballot, and to learn about your currently elected officials, as well as those running. 

There are a number of voting resources for IUPUI students, such as voter registration information, a calendar of political and civic engagement events and more that can all be found on IUPUI’s website under community engagement.