*The nonpartisan ClemsonVotes coalition will be providing ideas and resources to faculty and instructors throughout the fall 2020 semester via the Clemson Teaching Listserv.
It’s National Voter Education Week, everyone! This week (October 5-9) is a national, nonpartisan effort to bridge the gap between voter registration and voter turnout. 
There are 5 days of themes: Vote Ready, Mail Ready, Vote Plan Ready, Ballot Ready, and We Ready.
The beauty of it for faculty? The word “education” is built right in!
With so many students – both at Clemson and nation-wide – engaged in e-learning, faculty are often the first line of information for students. Simply put, voting is confusing. There are multiple steps and multiple deadlines that vary by state. As we’ve discussed elsewhere in this blog, students are not apathetic. They care very much about voting, but lack of follow-through is common.
As an instructor or faculty member, you do not have to be a voting expert to include voter engagement in your course. In fact, the national Provost group – the Association of Chief Academic Officers – endorsed a statement in support of the faculty role in voter engagement:
As the Association of Chief Academic Officers (ACAO), we support the role of college faculty and instructors in improving nonpartisan student voter engagement. We believe that student engagement in American democracy is integrally connected to curricular priorities of critical thinking and information literacy. We encourage our faculty colleagues across all ranks and disciplines to infuse in disciplinary- and subject-specific ways tenets of nonpartisan democratic and voter engagement into their work with students across the three pillars of voter registration, education, and turnout.
If you can spare a few minutes in class to celebrate National Voter Education Week, you’ll join a group nation-wide working to improve student voter engagement!