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Memo to College Presidents on Fall 2020 Voting Conditions
A strong democracy depends on free and fair elections. Too many college and university students already face serious barriers to, if not active suppression of, their right to vote. Add to the mix remote learning, likely-mandated physical distancing, and rapid-fire changes in voting conditions, and students may well face the perfect storm. IDHE has partnered with The Andrew Goodman Foundation (AGF) and Campus Vote Project (CVP) to guide higher education leaders. In the memo, we recommend that:
- Students with the option of voting from campus or voting from their parents’ address should register to vote where they will be the most motivated to vote and where voting will be the most convenient.
- Colleges and universities should provide all students, including incoming new students, with student identification cards and proof of residency now, regardless of whether students will be on campus or remote. Institutional leaders should advocate for use of college IDs to vote, and in the alternative, portable proof of identity and institution-issued proof of residency.
And that institutional leaders support:
- Online voter registration and robust mail-in voting;
- Excuse-free early voting with extended hours;
- On-campus polling locations and drop boxes for both early voting and Election Day voting; and,
- Voter education.
You can read coverage of this memo in Inside Higher Ed, and you can find a PDF of the memo, along with other IDHE resources at https://idhe.tufts.edu/vote2020.
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