|
Colorado Election Fellows Program
|
By the year 2015, young
voters will make up one-third of the US
electorate. In Colorado’s last presidential
election, only half of eligible voters between
18 and 25 voted. While turnout is still
very low, this is a huge increase from previous
elections. The Colorado Elections Fellows
program will help engage more young people in
the voting process through service in elections.
The Colorado
Elections Fellows program is available to 10
students in 2009. Each fellow will serve as a
poll worker on Election Day. Fellows will gain a
greater understanding of the importance and
significance of the voting process through an
engaging curriculum coupled with real-life
internship experience as poll workers.
Fellows will also gain understanding of why poll
workers are necessary to ensure that all
eligible voters are able to participate.
|
2009 Election Fellows Pilot Successful,
expansion planned
In keeping with our members’ commitment
to electoral engagement, CCC is proud to
have won the Election Assistance
Commission’s College Poll Worker Grant
for the 2009 and 2010 election seasons.
The Election Fellows program provides a
paid 45 hour, one credit service
learning course to selected students.
Participation in this unique
opportunity will be provided to any CCC
member for the 2010 year, with travel
and online components for outlying
sites.
The
outstanding curriculum developed by
Colorado Common Cause and supporting
faculty members is a comprehensive look
at our elections process. As a part of
the course, ten 2009 Fellows from DU,
Metro and UCD took part in trainings
that introduced them to the
County Clerk and Recorder, Secretary of
State, Elections Director and other
community leaders that work supporting
fair elections. The Fellows experience
culminates in recruiting other students
to join as poll workers in experiencing
elections work for themselves. We hope
to not only impact the students with the
experience of elections work but effect
our elections with the energy of these
great young people.
2009
Fellows with Clerk and Recorder,
Stephanie Y. O’Malley.
To get involved, please contact Lauren
Alweis at 303-458-4193 or compact@regis.edu.
|
|
Regis University's Press Release:
|
COLORADO CAMPUS COMPACT AT REGIS UNIVERSITY
RECEIVES 74K GRANT TO RECRUIT COLLEGE STUDENTS
TO SERVE AS POLL WORKERS DURING 2009 & 2010
ELECTIONS
by D. Veasey,
(DENVER) – Colorado Campus Compact (CCC) at
Regis University is one of 13 organizations
around the nation --11 colleges and universities
and two nonprofits -- to receive a grant to
recruit college students to serve as poll
workers during the 2009 and 2010 elections.
CCC received $74,611 from the U.S. Election
Assistance Commission (EAC). CCC will use the
funds to establish the Colorado Elections
Fellows Program.
“We continue to witness a rise in college
student interest and participation in
elections,” said Theresa M. Cusimano, executive
director of CCC. “With these strategic
investments from the Election Assistance
Commission, Colorado Campus Compact will
establish 35 Election Fellowships, selected on a
competitive basis.”
According to Cusimano, CCC at Regis University
and Just Vote Colorado, a program from Colorado
Common Cause, will implement a series of
strategies designed to engage college students
as poll workers and build a long-term commitment
to civic engagement.
Program Coordinator, Elena Nuñez, shares the
first year strategy, noting, “The first year of
the two-year Colorado Elections Fellows Program
will focus on college students at The
Metropolitan State College of Denver, the
University of Colorado at Denver and the
University of Denver. The second year will
expand efforts to northern and southern
Colorado, the eastern plains and the western
slope of Colorado. The Denver Elections Division
will be a key partner in this ongoing training
program.”
Denver Clerk and Recorder Stephanie O’Malley, in
charge of elections for the City of Denver,
commented, “I am thrilled that this innovative
program has been chosen for an EAC grant. For
the Denver Elections Division to have partnered
with area institutions of higher education in
the development of this grant proposal shows our
commitment and the commitment of Colorado higher
education to significantly raise the bar in the
recruiting and training of poll workers. We
encourage the presence of young people in the
electoral process. Their involvement helps to
create long-term commitment to civic engagement.
I can think of no better way than this program
to accomplish that.”
“Beyond the 35 fellowships, the program has a
goal of recruiting an additional 280 students
college students to become poll workers,” said
CCC’s Lauren Alweis.
Alweis added that a service learning elections
curriculum will also be developed by Susan
Sterett from the University of Denver that can
be implemented in various campus courses as a
means to recruit and train poll workers. Masters
level students from the University of Colorado
at Denver’s Political Science program will be
engaged in evaluation.
According to EAC, the purpose of the College
Program is to recruit the next generation of
poll workers. The program also seeks to ease
poll worker shortages such as those seen in the
2004 election, where 5.8 percent of polling
places and 4 percent of precincts nationwide
reported having too few poll workers, according
to the 2004 EAC Election Day Survey.
The College Program grants are authorized by the
Help America Vote Act of 2002.
CCC was founded in 1992 as a coalition of
Colorado college and university presidents to
promote community service, develop students’
citizenship skills and values, and to encourage
civic partnerships between campus and community.
The CCC is hosted at Regis University. |
|
