Cleveland State University
IN-42: Voter Education and Support

The Office of Community Engagement promotes civic engagement and voter participation on the CSU campus. Steps to promote readiness for active citizenship throughout CSU’s campus, Cleveland, and Cuyahoga County include:
1. In 2019, OCE Program Coordinator updated the ALL IN Democracy Action Plan.
2. Anita Ruf-Young, Program Coordinator, developed a “Vikes Vote” curriculum which was piloted in 8 FYE ASC101 Introduction to University Life sections and will be formally rolled out to over 55 sections in fall of 2020. The initiative is designed to educate CSU students on the importance of voting, how to vote and how to be a civically engaged citizen. This initiative is another step in institutionalizing voter engagement here at CSU.
3. Coordinated a campus wide voter registration campaign, in partnership with NVRD.org, CCBOE, Faculty Member Mittie Jones, The League of Women Voters, the 2020 Census and Alpha Kappa Alpha, that took place on 10/24/2019- which was National Voter Registration Day.
4. OCE has established a formal partnership with Northeast Ohio Voter Advocates (NOVA) in order to maximize voter registration on campus. Along with NOVA, OCE operated 29 voter registration tables this spring semester (due to COVID-19 tables for April and May had to be postponed). Additionally, through CSU Admissions, 26 voter registration tables have been planned and was in the process of being scheduled for all summer 2020 New Student Orientations, First Year Orientations, Transfer Student Orientations, and Magnus Fest until COVID-19 occurred. This partnership is another step-in institutionalizing voter engagement here at CSU.
5. OCE partners with the Campus International School on CSU's campus to provide civic engagement educational opportunities.
6. OCE under the direction of Anita Ruf-Young recently established a League of Women Voters Student Organization here at CSU in partnership with the Greater Cleveland League of Women Voters.
7. Consistently increased voter registration and participation earning the All In Campus Democracy Challenge Certificate of Excellence in Student Voter Engagement Gold Campus rating, which increased from Silver in 2016.
8. Hired, and currently supervise, three Democracy Fellows through Campus Vote Project and Campus Election Engagement Project, who work to provide non-partisan information, register students to vote and promote civic engagement on campus. Each Fellow receives a $1,500 stipend for their voter engagement work
9. These engagement efforts have resulted in the registration of almost 600 CSU students, faculty and staff as voters since June 2019.

Voter Friendly Campus designation
https://www.voterfriendlycampus.org/campus-designees

ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge
CSU earned GOLD for the 2018 midterm election
https://www.allinchallenge.org/campuses/cleveland-state-university/

Student Voting Rates for Cleveland State University
2018 CAMPUS REPORT
https://www.allinchallenge.org/wp-content/uploads/Cleveland-State-University-NSLVE-2018.pdf

Cleveland State University’s Office of Civic Engagement
All In Democracy Voter Engagement 2020 Action Plan
https://www.allinchallenge.org/wp-content/uploads/Cleveland-State-University-Action-Plan-2020.pdf

The Office of Civic Engagement with our partner Northeast Ohio Voter Advocates (NOVA) are hosting voter registration tables to ensure that every CSU student has the opportunity to register to vote.
https://urban.csuohio.edu/oce/oce-news-get-registered-to-vote-vikes

CSU Student Voter Registration
https://www.csuohio.edu/enrollment-services/voter-registration