IWU’s Student Senate launched their “Titan Votes” campaign for National Voter Registration Day on Sept. 22. The campaign was spearheaded by junior Civic Engagement Commissioner Wah Chook.
“Titan Votes” is a collaboration between IWU’s Student Senate, Action Research Center coordinator Bevin Choban and IWU Athletics that will focus on teaching students about how to register to vote and encouraging them to do so in the upcoming November election.
The campaign was launched at a Campus Activities Board (CAB) event at which students were invited to tie-dye masks for themselves or local non-profit organizations while learning about voter registration. Though they could not actually register to vote there, over 100 students attended Tuesday’s event where Chook provided different resources as well as guidance.
“It was more of an event to get people hyped to vote,” Chook said. “Students floated in and out but special shout out to the staff members that stopped by and to the faculty members that have promoted the campaign and the event to their students.”
As part of the campaign, students were encouraged to post pictures about registering to vote on social media and to hashtag them “#TitanVotes2020.” Students who posted and continue to post pictures with the attached hashtag will be entered into a raffle sponsored by Student Senate and IWU Athletics. Prizes will include UnderArmour gear, IWU merchandise and a monetary donation to the winner’s choice of a non-profit organization.
The campaign will continue to be promoted on campus through November. Chook said she plans to use social media engagement as well as reaching out to various parts of campus to get people engaged in voting. In addition, at the end of the election, the sponsors will combine all of the “I voted” pictures into a video that will be released to the public.
“Titan Votes” came as part of the Blono Campus Voter Registration Challenge. The challenge is an effort between Illinois Wesleyan, Illinois State University and Heartland Community College. The aim of the competition is to see which school can have the most students register to vote before Oct. 18 which is the last day Illinois allows online voter registration though students are encouraged to register in-person after that date as well.
Students and staff from all three schools as well as a number of local officials helped kick-off the Blono Campus Voter Registration Challenge.
“One of our core mission values at IWU is preparing Titans for lifelong democratic and global citizenship,” Choban said at the event kick-off.
“Titan Votes” will continue to run during October and students that wish to be involved on campus as advocates for student voter registration were encouraged at the event to contact Chook and Choban for information on how to engage, register, vote and spread the word.