Florida Atlantic University is one of 258 campuses nationwide to be designated as a “Voter Friendly Campus” by national nonpartisan organizations Campus Vote Project and NASPA – Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education.

Florida Atlantic University is one of 258 campuses nationwide to be designated as a “Voter Friendly Campus” by national nonpartisan organizations Campus Vote Project and NASPA – Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education . The initiative recognizes institutions that have planned and implemented practices that encouraged their students to register and vote.

This is the fourth iteration of the program, and FAU has been selected for this distinction each time.

“It is an honor to receive this distinction once again,” said Bailey Carmack, coordinator of the Weppner Service Center, part of FAU’s Office of Leadership Education and Development. “It continues to be FAU's goal to provide students with the tools necessary to be the change in their community through the power of voting and civic engagement.”

The mission of the 2023 Voter Friendly Campus designation is to bolster colleges and universities’ efforts to help students overcome barriers and participate in the political process – every year, not just during years featuring federal elections. Campuses were evaluated based on a written plan for how they would register, educate and turn out student voters in 2022; how they facilitated voter engagement efforts on their campus; and on a final analysis of their efforts.

Specifically at FAU, Student Government continued its partnership with TurboVote, which was used to register students to vote. FAU also participated in the “ALL IN to Vote” challenge and hosted programs such as National Voter Education Week, which aimed to help bridge the gap between registering to vote and actually casting a ballot.

“Receiving the Voter Friendly Campus designation shows that the Weppner Center for Civic Engagement and Service Learning makes civic and electoral engagement a priority for our campus community,” said Donald Vanpelt Jr., assistant vice president of student engagement within the Division of Student Affairs.

Additionally, FAU held in-person events on all campuses for National Voter Registration Day, and continued its designation as an early voting location for Palm Beach County registered voters on Election Day. More recent efforts to give students access to voting-friendly events have included President’s Day trivia in February 2022, as well as “Donut Forget to Register to Vote” in March to help students register to vote.

FAU is one of 20 schools in the state of Florida that has earned this 2023-24 distinction, and its “Voter Friendly Campus” designation is valid through December 2024. The 258 campuses represented for this cycle are spread across 38 states and the District of Columbia and represent a wide range of two-year, four-year, public, private, rural and urban campuses, collectively serving more than 3.5 million students. To learn more, visit voterfriendlycampus.org.

-FAU-