While the COVID-19 pandemic has altered traditional get-out-the-vote efforts on college campuses, students are working hard to encourage young voters to participate in the electoral process. Miyako Iwata, a senior at the University of California, Berkeley, is already thinking about what needs to happen next.
“There is a lot at stake as far as the health of our democracy in general. But also, that’s not something that’s just exclusive to this election. There’s always issues on the state level,” said Iwata.
For example, “California has the opportunity to restore affirmative action through a ballot initiative.
And of course, there are local races.”
Iwata is the founder and leader of the PAC-12 Voting Challenge, a cross-campus competition aimed at boosting student voter turnout across the West Coast in collaboration with the Andrew Goodman Foundation and ALL IN to Vote.
She and her colleagues are informing people about the election by “leveraging social media,” sending campus-wide emails and sharing voting resources across universities in the area.
Schools can win the challenge in two ways. One of the 12 universities must score the highest on student registration and voting rates calculated by The National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE), or they must have the best “2020 Action Plan” — to improve and mobilize civic engagement on campuses.
However, “it’s not really about [high registration numbers and participation],” said Iwata. “At the end of the day, having the culture with the student body and entire institution at Berkeley to participate in civic engagement” is what counts.
