Independence Community College has been awarded a $9,600 Ask Every Student Implementation Grant through the Ask Every Student Program.
Ask Every Student, a part of the National Resource Consortium on Full Student Voter Participation, seeks to create processes, systems and tools, collaborating with leaders at institutions who are working to make full participation a reality.
ICC will use the grant to hire voter engagement student coordinators. These students will work to make sure every ICC student has a plan to register to vote and submit their ballot safely. The student coordinators are not concerned with who ICC students vote for but are focused on making sure that every student exercises their right to vote.
“According to the National Study of Learning, Voting and Engagement out of Tufts University, only 25 percent of ICC students voted in the 2016 presidential election, despite 48 percent of our eligible students registering to vote,” said Dr. Vincent Bowhay, Vice President for Student Affairs. “Studies have shown that 3 to 5 minutes of conversation with an informed peer better prepares students to fully engage in our democracy, and that begins with voter registration.”
Events will be held leading up to the 2020 election on Tuesday, November 3, to encourage voter registration and participation.
All ICC students can find how to register to vote and where their polling location is by visiting TurboVote, ICC’s partner in voter registration. TurboVote can be accessed at https://indycc.turbovote.org/.