For Immediate Release
As Election Day continues, volunteers and staff with the Student PIRG’s New Voters Project are going full tilt with creative ideas and proven tactics to drive youth turnout at the polls. This morning alone, the Student PIRGs have made nearly 100,000 additional GOTV reminders to students and young voters, bringing the total to over 300,000.
Included below is a list of exciting and photo-worthy events from around the country. The list is not exhaustive. Please contact Andy MacDonald, National Campus Director, for more information or photos from any of these events or to find an event in your area.
NORTH CAROLINA
North Carolina State: NCPIRG is hosting a “We got the keys to the future” event from 11-2pm in the brickyard. There will be music, giveaways, and free pizza! There will also be a “Party at the polls” at Pullen Community Center from 6pm until polls close. There will be dogs to pet, free pizza, and music.
UNC Chapel Hill: There will be a “Pups to the Polls” event in the pit from 9am-2pm. There will be at least 2 puppies at all times, plus music and nonpartisan voter guides There will also be a “Party at the polls” event at the Holy Trinity Lutheran Church (300 E. Rosemary Street in Chapel Hill) from 3-7:30pm. There will be free burritos, snacks, music, and games!
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(Pups to the Polls at UNC Chapel Hill)
UNC Charlotte: There will be a “49ers to the polls” event with shuttle service leaving from the student union every half hour from 10-2pm with music and giveaways.
Wake Tech – North Campus: NCPIRG is hosting a “Party to the polls” event that will have music, candy, and fun giveaways from 11am-2pm in the speech zone between buildings E and F.
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(students at Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte, NC)
COLORADO
Front Range Community College – Westminster: From 9-4pm on Election Day, CoPIRG will be tabling to answer questions about voting and will have a variety of activities that are harder than actual voting like a jigsaw puzzle, riddles, and a candy toss. Volunteers will also be channeling their inner pirate at an “aaarrrg YOU voting” themed table, with posters of pirates and “Polly the polling location” parrots, treasure maps of vote centers, and gold chocolate coins since voting is a treasure.
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(aarrg you voting table in Colorado)
Community College of Aurora: There will be a “Voting is Sweet!” on CC Aurora’s free speech zone from 10-4pm; with cupcakes, music, posters, and maybe even a fox to represent the CCA mascot who thinks that voting is foxy!
Arapahoe Community College: There will be a “Voting is Sweet” table outside of the main entrance of Arapahoe Community College. We will be answering questions about how and where to vote in person and turn in ballots. Students will have the opportunity to pledge to vote, take candy, encourage their friends to vote, and create related posts on in a big “Instagram frame” for social media. The table will be there between 9:30 and 3pm.
Colorado State – Pueblo: CoPIRG will have a table from 10-2pm with posters, candy, and a spinning wheel with trivia about voting and prizes for the winners.
FLORIDA
Florida State University: Florida PIRG is hosting a “Party at the Polls” in front of the Hillside community church. Students will be doing final GOTV push from a base of operations near the FSU campus and the Hillside community church polling place and handing out free Election Day themed cookies and cupcakes to celebrate the historic day!
WASHINGTON:
University of Washington: WashPIRG will be hosting a party at the ballot drop box on campus, celebrating as people hand in their ballots and encouraging them to text their friends a quick reminder. They’ll be giving out t-shirts, posters, and stickers, and making last minute class announcements reminding students where to turn in their ballots.
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(GOTV Event at the University of Washington)
MARYLAND
University of Maryland – College Park: Maryland PIRG will be hosting a table and a big VOTE prop where people stand in for the T and take a picture. UMD President Loh will also be giving out cookies and turtle pins to students voting on campus.
NEW MEXICO
New Mexico State: NMPIRG is hosting a Party at the Polls Outside of Corbett Center Student, starting at 7am until the polling place on campus closes at 7pm. We’ll have music, decorations, and other regalia, as well as a banner students can sign once they’ve voted.
University of New Mexico: There will be a Party at the Polls on campus at UNM in front of Student Union Building, from 10am until 6pm, as well as an Election results watch party from 6pm to late in the student union.
CONNECTICUT:
UConn Storrs: There will be shuttles heading to the polls throughout the day and UConnPIRG will be hosting tables on Fairfield Way asking students to sign a giant banner saying they’re voting.
Trinity College: Students have been signing a giant banner and writing why they voted or are voting in the past couple days. There are walking groups to the polling location for students who registered with their campus address.
MASSACHUSETTS
UMass Amherst: The UMass Votes Coalition will be outside the Campus Center and at Haigis Mall reminding people that it’s Election Day and giving them all the info they need. Shuttles from Haigis Mall will take students to their polling locations and volunteers will be helping to manage lines and keep people happy at the student-heavy locations.
UMass Lowell: A shuttle funded by the SGA and staffed with “voter education volunteers” will be shuttling students who registered on South Campus to their polling location 2 miles away. The vote mobile will be decked out in banners, streamers, and window signs as it parades around campus and Lowell distributing first time voters and other students to their voting destination. The bus will also include 2 banners with over 200 student signatures from the past days’ efforts getting out the vote.
Mass. College of Liberal Arts: Buses from campus to the polls will run from 8-4pm, and students will be also holding walking groups down to the one polling location where most students will be going. Students will also be signing a giant banner and giving out tons of swag to voters.
Westfield State: From 10 AM – 8 PM, MASSPIRG will host a “Party at the Polls.” Volunteers will be tabling outside 2nd Congregational Church in Westfield, with free food and vote-gear. A student Rock Band and improv group will be performing there from 6pm – 8 pm.
Fitchburg State: MASSPIRG is hosting a #FalconsVote event 10:30 AM – 6 PM in Hammond Hall. Students can catch a ride on the vote-mobile to get driven to the polls, and can use a snapchat filter to post to their stories to spread the word.
Salem State: There will be an “I’m Voting Because…” event from 10 AM – 8 PM at the Alumni Plaza. There will be a big sheet hanging from staircase with hundreds of student signatures on why they’re voting, directing people to the polling location on campus (Enterprise Center) where there is another table set up with free food and goodies.
CALIFORNIA
UC Berkeley: CALPIRG will be hosting a table on Sproul from 10-3pm, with students signing and “I’m Voting Banner.”
UC Davis: There will be a table in MU, encouraging people to take a photo for their snapchat story. There will also be a bike flash mob to the polls, with a person in Statue of Liberty costume biking around the quad with a megaphone encouraging students to ride with her to the polling place.
UCLA: CALPIRG will host two tables – on Bruin Plaza and another at the crosswalk to dorms where polling places are. Volunteers will be handing out thousands of flyers with a map of all the polling locations on campus, as well as providing props for a host of social media opportunities such as a “Wish you were here” sign for photo petitions in line at the polling places, and a big “I’m voting” Instagram frame for photo petitions.
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(Students Get-out-the-vote at UCLA)
UC Riverside: There will be a “Rage to the Polls” event on campus, where student interested in voting gather to at the bell tower every 30 minutes and then hold a dancing “rage to the polls” conga line to the polls with music, candy, and body paint.
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The Student PIRGs’ New Voters Project is one of the largest on-the-ground, non-partisan, youth voter mobilization campaigns in the country. Over the past 30 years, we have helped to register more than 1.7 million young people and make millions of get-out-the-vote reminders.