Creating Your Vision

What is your vision for the campus and/or community?

My vision for the future of Ohio State is to be a community that is engaged in politics and policy at all levels of government. I see a community of students that realizes the impact political decisions make on their lives and choses to vote and influence their respective legislator. My vision is impossible without a university administration that acknowledges the importance of fostering civic engagement and creating an atomsphere that voting and welcomes all types of political discourse. I am working to create the organizational networks and institutional support now to make voter registration, education, and mobilization a habitual and natural responsibility for several student organizations and university programs.

Assessing Your Campus and Community

What campus/community problem does your blueprint address? What structures, practices and policies institutionalize the problem?

My blueprint works to institutionalize a culture of civic engagement among several student organizations and within the university administration. The challenges in voter registration at Ohio State is organizing a collaboration big enough to get the attention of the university in order to facilitate interaction with the student populations in all aspects of campus life. By strengthening the OSU Votes Project on campus, we can get more organizations involved which will help continue the effort to register, educate, and mobilize students each election season for years to come. Also, by documenting everything we do, we will make it easier on future OSU Votes organizers to pick up where we will leave off.

What communities will you work with?

• Campus community
• Local community
• Statewide community

Setting Goals and Deliverables

• Goal 1: Increase the number of registered voters in the Ohio State community.
• Register all eligible student living on campus ~ 9,000 students
• Register another 3,000 students through class presentations, tabling, canvassing, and events.
• Goal 2: Increase voter turnout on election day.
• Educate students on the issues and candidates by handing out 5,000 voter guides and sending people to our online voter guide.
• Call, text, and email students to remind them to vote and answer their questions.
• Ask professors to excuse tardiness or absences on Election Day.
• Have university wide email sent out to students the day before election day reminding them to vote.
• Goal 3: Institutionalize a university supported commitment to civic engagement.
• Require all involved organizations to add in their organization's constitution or by-laws a written commitment to the OSU Votes Coalition during election seasons.
• Upgrade website to be easily accessible and changeable with each election year.
• Get President Gee to commit university resources and support for OSU Votes efforts in the future.

What is your primary approach? Organizing

Why did you choose this approach?

The best way to raise civic awareness and improve voter turnout is to organize volunteers and events to reach out to students one-on-one. This approach will also prepare volunteers to lead OSU Votes in the future by delegating responsibilities.

Did you have secondary approaches? What are they?

Network and alliance building is an integral component to our efforts because it will bring all civic engagement work under one organization and eliminate competing or conflicting events or activities. It also allows for better communication and a larger pool of volunteers and resources available to OSU Votes.

What will your tactics and activities be?

Increase voter registration:
-attend large lectures to register students in class with professor permission.
-attend large events and send volunteers with clip board to register audiences.
-go to residence hall beginning of the year meetings and register dorm students.
-table in high traffic areas around campus.
-canvass in the off-campus community.
-register people at sporting events and football games.
-provide student organizations with forms to register all members.
-provide greek houses with forms and pick them up after.

Increase voter turnout:
-educate students on the issues with events and the voter guides to they see the importance of voting.
-provide them with information on voting laws, polling hours and locations, and absentee ballots.
-remind students to vote with text messages, phone banking, peer on peer contacts, university emails, and a widespread marketing campaign.

Institutionalize commitment to civic engagement:
-meet with President Gee and other university officials after the election to talk about successes and challenges and secure future support.
-document all activities for future OSU Votes leaders.
-get partner organizations to commit volunteers and resources to the coalition through written agreements.

Connecting Back to Vision

How does your strategy contribute to your vision for your campus and/or your community?

By raising civic awareness, registering and educating voters, and institutionalizing the university's commitment to civic engagement, the campus community will be better prepared to continue their lives as well informed, conscientious citizens. Fostering this civic awareness is crucial to preparing the next generation of leaders to be more sensitive to and concerned about the myriad of challenges facing us now and in the future, and will hopefully enable students to create social change to address those issues in whichever professions they choose.

Resources and skills you will need

What skills do you need for this approach?

Leadership, marketing, and organizing skills.