BadgersVote is a campus-wide initiative that strives to provide University of Wisconsin–Madison students with everything they need to know in order to participate in their elections. The BadgersVote Coalition is comprised of many individuals, units and departments across campus and the city of Madison.
BadgersVote hosts voter education campaigns, information events and other student-oriented opportunities to drive student civic and voter engagement. This includes providing Badgers with a continuously updated comprehensive voting resource here at vote.wisc.edu.
The BadgersVote Student Coalition is looking for students who are interested in supporting democratic engagement across campus. The coalition is made up of students and student organization representatives from across campus. Join us for our bi-weekly meetings Fridays at 3:30pm See the Morgridge Center Events Calendar for our next meetings.
Are you more interested in voting in your home state? Visit Project Vote Smart to find dates of elections in other states.
Visit vote.wisc.edu for more information on voter eligibility, acceptable IDs to vote, where to vote and more.
Spring Election – Tuesday, Apr. 6
In-person Absentee Voting On Campus – Memorial Union Theater, Monday thru Friday, March 23-April 2 from 11am – 4pm
In Wisconsin, our spring elections will elect local officials as well as the statewide race on the ballot — the Superintendent of Public Instruction, who oversees public schools and libraries in Wisconsin.
Wondering what areas of public policy this position impacts? While much of the superintendent’s work focuses on K-12 education, they also serve on the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents, which sets budget and policy priorities for the UW System including our campus. The State Superintendent of Public Instruction controls school curriculum, educational opportunities educator quality, public library services and education for children with disabilities.
You can already request your absentee ballot at myvote.wi.gov. You can also create your personalized plan to register and vote through the BadgersVote interactive voting tool at go.wisc.edu/StepsToVoteUW.
Voter Engagement and Civic Learning Coordinator Zachery Holder: zdholder@wisc.edu
The Morgridge Center collaborates with several campus, local and national initiatives to support other student voting efforts. See links below for more information on these initiatives.
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ALL IN Democracy Challenge
The University of Wisconsin-Madison has joined more than 575 other colleges and universities around the country by committing to the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge.
The Challenge recognizes postsecondary campuses committed to improving democratic engagement, increasing student voter participation rates, and graduating students with a lifelong commitment to being informed and active citizens.
By recognizing colleges and universities for their commitment to increasing student voting rates, this national awards program encourages institutions to help students form the habits of active and informed citizenship. Hundreds of colleges and universities have joined the Challenge and have committed to making democratic participation a core value on their campuses. Together, they are cultivating generations of engaged citizens who are essential to a healthy democracy.
Big 10 Voting Challenge
UW–Madison joined the other Big Ten institutions in a new competition to promote civic engagement in 2018: the Big Ten Voting Challenge. The Big Ten Voting Challenge helps to mobilize registration and turnout efforts at all 14 Big Ten universities. UW–Madison again joined the Big Ten Voting Challenge for the November 2020 presidential election. The 2020 results will be out in the summer of 2021.
READ LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENTS
What’s At Stake:
One of the most important values we teach at our universities is the importance of civic engagement. Voting in elections gives students a voice in the democratic process and in the decisions that affect local, state, and national issues. The Big Ten Voting Challenge is a nonpartisan initiative to encourage students to exercise their right to vote, which is among the most fundamental opportunities to be an active and engaged citizen.
UW-MADISON COMMITS TO EMPOWERING STUDENTS TO VOTE in 2020
UW–Madison participated in the Big 10 Voting Challenge for the 2020 presidential election. Many students had cast their votes early amid the pandemic, and the presidential election is expected to have high turnout. Dane County smashed records for voter turnout on the historic day.
UW HAS SECOND HIGHEST VOTER TURNOUT IN BIG TEN
University of Wisconsin–Madison students achieved the second-highest voter turnout among the 14 member institutions of the Big Ten Conference in the 2018 midterm elections, according to the newly announced results of the Big Ten Voting Challenge.
STUDENT TURNOUT STRONG IN 2018
A national survey found student turnout at UW–Madison increased by nearly 18 percentage points in the 2018 midterm elections compared to 2014.
National Study of Learning, Voting and Engagement
The National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE) offers colleges and universities an opportunity to learn their student registration and voting rates. UW–Madison has joined more than 1,000 campuses across all 50 states in participating in NSLVE. This study is the first and only to objectively examine student and institution-level data on student voting and share these data with participating campuses.
2016 and 2018 University of Wisconsin – Madison NSLVE Voting Data at a Glance
2014 and 2018 University of Wisconsin – Madison NSLVE Report
2012 and 2016 University of Wisconsin – Madison NSLVE Report
Vote Everywhere Ambassador at UW–Madison
Beginning in the spring of 2016, UW–Madison has hosted three Vote Everywhere Ambassadors funded by the Andrew Goodman Foundation.
Vote Everywhere is a national, non-partisan, civic engagement movement of student leaders and university partners. The program provides extensive training, resources, as well as a peer network to support its Ambassadors while they work to register voters, bring down voting barriers, and tackle important social justice issues.
The efforts of the Vote Everywhere Ambassadors embody the spirit of a fellow UW–Madison student, Andrew Goodman, the namesake of the organization. Robert and Carolyn Goodman founded The Andrew Goodman Foundation to honor their son after he was murdered along with young civil rights workers James Earl Chaney and Michael “Mickey” Schwerner by Klansmen in Mississippi during the Summer of 1964.
Goodman, who attended UW–Madison his freshman year, committed himself to fighting injustices by traveling through the south to register African-American voters during the Freedom Summer volunteer campaign at 20 years old.
Today, the Vote Everywhere Ambassadors carry on Goodman’s spirit by working to ensure students are well informed about elections, are able to register to vote and can collect their free voter ID at UW–Madison.
Stay Connected with Civic Engagement
Pod-Cast Your Vote
Created by BadgersVote in collaboration with the Andrew Goodman Foundation, Pod-Cast Your Vote is dedicated to increasing voter engagement by reminding all students of the power they hold to change the world. New episodes produced every other Thursday!
Zoom the Vote Sessions
Zoom the Vote was a four-week series of one-hour long Zoom presentations about all things voting hosted by the BadgersVote Student Coalition in collaboration with community partners from the Morgridge Center for Public Service. Check out the videos for all your voting questions!
An Election like no other
After careful preparation by the Madison City Clerk’s office and UW–Madison officials, Election Day went ahead on Nov. 3. Dane County reached record voter turnout rates, with 84.7% of the voting age population casting ballots. Check out some photos and remember, #BadgersVote.
Post-Election Processing Resources
Whether it be the Presidential Election, racial injustice, climate change or the pandemic, passionate discussion will be present beyond November. Here are processing tools by the Office of Inclusion Education to create dialogue.
Getting out the vote
Every Thursday at 6 p.m. for the past few months, UW students banded together to tackle a nationwide challenge: getting out the youth vote. Read more about the BadgersVote Student Coalition's extraordinary efforts to get out the student vote in amid the pandemic in 2020.
WORKING THE POLLS: Q&A WITH TAMIA FOWLKES
Tamia Fowlkes, the Big Ten Voting Challenge intern for the Morgridge Center for Public Service, offers her insight into the value of youth working the polls this fall during a pandemic.
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