Booker, Durbin, Krishnamoorthi Introduce The Help Students Vote Act

Press Release

U.S. Senators Cory Booker and Dick Durbin, along with Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi reintroduced the Help Students Vote Act, a bill to strengthen student voter registration and civic participation on college campuses. Key student voting reforms of the Help Students Vote Act passed the House of Representatives earlier this year as part of H.R. 1, the For The People Act.

"Young people today face more barriers than they should when trying to make their voices heard at the ballot box," said Senator Booker. "Our bill will help alleviate some of the confusion students on college campuses have about voting. By adding much-needed federal guidance on the role of colleges and universities in providing voting information to students, we can ensure our students have the resources they need to register and vote."

"The right to vote is essential to our democracy," said Senator Durbin. "The Higher Education Act requires colleges and universities to help students register to vote by distributing voter registration forms. This bill would build upon the existing law to ensure that we are doing everything we can to strengthen access to the ballot for millions of young Americans."

"The future of our democracy depends on the civic engagement and political participation of our nation's next generation," said Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi. "The legislation improves voter education and voter registration at every college campus across the country, which will strengthen the health of our democracy and ensure our government is more representative of the people it serves."

"Across the country, students look to their universities and colleges as a resource as they transition into adulthood and become active and engaged citizens," said Clarissa Unger, Director of Civic Engagement for Young Invincibles. "By ensuring campus vote coordinators are available to answer students' questions about registering to vote, finding their polling location, and actually casting their ballot, the Help Students Vote Act empowers young people to make civic participation a core value in their community and ensure their voice is represented at every level of government."

The below list of organizations have endorsed the legislation:
A Band of Voters
Alliance for Youth Organizing
American College Personnel Association (ACPA)
American Political Science Association (APSA)
Andrew Goodman Foundation
Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon (APANO)
Association of Young Americans
Black Girls Vote
Campus Compact Mid-Atlantic
Campus Vote Project
Civic Nebraska
CivicTN
Common Cause
Common Cause NC HBCU Student Action Alliance
ConnPIRG Student Chapters
Demos
Emgage
Emory University
Engage Miami
Feminist Majority Foundation
Forefront
Forward Montana
Generation Citizen
Generation Progress
Georgia Shift
Ideas42
Iowa Campus Compact
LeadMN
Macalester Student Choices - Student Voices
Mi Familia Vota
Motivote
MOVE San Antonio
National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO)
National Association of Social Workers
National Education Association
National Voter Corps
Nebraskans for Civic Reform
New Era Colorado
New Georgia Project
NJPIRG Student Chapters
Ohio Campus Compact
Ohio Student Association
One Wisconsin Institute
Oregon Bus Project
Oregon Student Association
OSPIRG Students
PARADIGM pm llp
Penn Center for Minority Serving Institutions
People Demanding Action
Public Higher Education Network of Massachusetts (PHENOM )
Rock the Vote
Rollins College
Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
Spread the Vote
State Voices
The Century Foundation
Tisch College of Civic Life at Tufts University
University of Michigan
University of Wisconsin - Madison
Virginia21
Walk2Vote
Young Invincibles
Young People For (YP4)
YVote