Elizabeth City State University wins statewide college voter registration contest

Leslie Garvin
September 30, 2014

ELON, NC – Elizabeth City State University outpaced four other campuses in a voter registration contest sponsored by North Carolina Campus Compact. On National Voter Registration Day, September 23rd, Student Government Association President McKinley Strother led a team of ECSU students who collected 68 voter registration forms, earning the school a $450 prize. Earlier this fall, ECSU’s Student Government Association also received a $300 grant from North Carolina Campus Compact to fund non-partisan voter engagement activities in the run up to the midterm elections. The voter registration contest and the SGA grant are part of the Campus Election Engagement Project (CEEP) – NC, North Carolina Campus Compact’s statewide push to engage college students in midterm elections where voter turnout, especially among college-aged youth, is typically low. Through CEEP-NC, the Compact offers information and resources, including a series of civic education and voter mobilization trainings. &quotSome key changes to North Carolina’s election process – including a shortened early voting period – will go into effect in the 2014 midterms,&quot said NC Campus Compact Interim Executive Director Leslie Garvin, who directs the voter engagement project. &quotSo part of our goal is to get that information out. But our main mission is simply to encourage students to be active citizens.&quot Just 23 percent of North Carolina registered voters aged 18-29 voted in the 2010 midterm elections, according to the Center for Information on Civic Learning and Engagement. This rate was roughly on par with the national average but still 28 points below that for voters over 30.