BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – A nonpartisan initiative is underway to get Vermont students to the polls.
Secretary of State Sarah Copeland Hanzas, D-Vermont, recently announced the Vermont Campus Voting Challenge. It’s a program that engages Vermont’s colleges and universities to help students register to vote. Schools can use data from previous iterations of the challenge as a benchmark to increase voter participation this year.
“Many 18, 19, 20 year-olds are voting for their very first time. When they have moved to a college campus, that’s far away from where they grew up, and so sometimes just having a little bit of help and intentionality on the part of the administration of the school is what it takes to introduce and welcome young people into the voting franchise,” Copeland Hanzas said.
Participating schools will be eligible for awards based on their turnout for the election.