UHCL : UHCL Wins Two National Awards For Campus Voter Engagement

Press release from University of Houston-Clear Lake:

January 7, 2022

College students have been a key demographic component in the last three elections,
becoming more actively involved with issues like climate change, social justice and
the economy. Raising awareness about voter registration and the voting process is
critical, and Mohammad Khan, coordinator for Community Engagement in the Office of Student Involvement and Leadership at University of Houston-Clear Lake says that through programs offered to Hawks throughout
the year and especially during election seasons, student voter engagement on campus
has risen significantly.

"UH-Clear Lake has recently become a participant in the National Study of Learning,
Voting and Engagement, coordinated by the Institute for Democracy and Higher Education
at Tufts University," Khan said. "In fall 2021, we received a report from NSLVE that
provided detailed information about the voting behaviors of our different student
populations, including the method of voting and voter turnout."

He said the most significant highlight of the report is the achievement of a 62.8%
voter turnout in the 2020 presidential election, resulting in UHCL's recognition as
a national Silver Campus Seal recipient in the ALL IN Campus Democracy challenge for
the 2020 presidential election.

"Over the last year, we have increased programs related to civic events like National
Voter Education Week and National Vote Early Day," Khan said. "We created events around
those days to create awareness about the importance of civic involvement, including
an Inauguration Day watch party, and had a panel discussion about President Joe Biden's
first 100 days in office."

Khan added that the 2020 presidential election was the first time UHCL had participated
in the NSLVE survey, which yielded useful data, including whether students voted early
or in person, their gender and race, major, and which segments of the student population
are more or less likely to vote.

"Our institutional voter engagement goal was to get 50% of our eligible students to
vote, and we exceeded that goal. It's worth noting that this is our first time participating
in this national survey, so we've not had the actual data till now," he said. "We
can now make a more effective plan to say how we'll do even better in the next election."

The impact of the programs, Khan continued, has been noticeable. "In addition to the
Silver Campus seal award, we also received a second national recognition — the Voter
Friendly Campus award. We hosted events and programs to encourage engagement, and
after the election, we submitted a report that demonstrated that we'd done what we
said we'd do."

Other programs and initiatives designed to engage students include Rock the Vote,
the Summer Voter Education Series, Constitution Day, voter registration tabling events,
and deliberative dialogues.

Khan said a critical part of the plan is collaborating with the Campus Vote Project,
which works with colleges and election officials to reduce barriers to student voting,
and sponsors students to become Democracy Fellows.

"They know campuses need help in improving voter engagement, so they offer grants
that allow students to become part of a national network of Democracy Fellows. These
are student leaders who reach out to their peers through tabling and other events,
and work with Harris County voting officials," he said. "UHCL's Democracy Fellow,
Empress-Akira Sullivan, has done such a great job, we have been selected to add a
second Democracy Fellow, which is uncommon in this program."

Sullivan, a sophomore double majoring in psychology and anthropology, said she'd become interested in politics when she took a speech class during her
freshman year and spoke about voting. "Researching that speech provided me with an
abundance of information, and prompted me to become more engaged and knowledgeable
about the voting process," she said. "I got the opportunity to become a Democracy
Fellow, and this lets me get others involved in a more hands-on manner."

She said her fellowship requires her to spend about 10-15 hours a week creating bulletin
boards with current topics tied to civic engagement, setting up tabling events where
students can register to vote and learn more about the process, and doing coalition
work.

"Our Civic Engagement Coalition is a 'think tank' of UHCL students, faculty and staff
who provide a network for sharing voter opportunities and serve as reviewers of our
campus plan and analysts for our NSLVE reports," she said. "I also work with the Texas
state coordinator from Campus Vote Project, which is the organization that pays for
my fellowship."

She said being a Democracy Fellow has enriched her in ways she hadn't anticipated.

"I feel like I have learned so much and met so many people. If I didn't have this
opportunity, I wouldn't be as informed," she said. "When you think of voting, you
don't always realize the bigger picture. When I'm tabling, I ask people if they're
registered and sometimes they say they don't know. I believe that if you don't do
your part now, you can't complain later."

UHCL is an Early Voting and Election Day polling site. In the 2020 presidential election,
over 14,000 members of the community cast their ballots on the UHCL campus. Go online
for more information about civic engagement and voter participation at UHCL.

This press release was produced by University of Houston-Clear Lake. The views expressed here are the author’s own.