Biden administration pushes colleges to educate next generation of voters

May 11, 2022

By: Sejal Govindarao

Just weeks before the first midterm primary elections, the Department of Education issued a "Dear Colleague" letter reminding postsecondary institutions throughout the country of their legal requirement to distribute voter registration materials and provide voter education.

The 1998 Reauthorization of the Higher Education Act of 1965 began requiring colleges and universities to distribute voter registration information to all enrolled students, but according to Elizabeth Bennion, campus director of the American Democracy Project at Indiana University, South Bend -- a university initiative that supports civic engagement for undergraduates -- very few campuses were actually doing so.

"This is really a great time just to remind campuses of, you know, their responsibility under the Higher Education Act under federal law, as we head into the primaries and midterm elections," said Clarissa Unger, co-founder and executive director of the Students Learn Students Vote Coalition -- the largest nonpartisan coalition dedicated to increasing student voter participation.

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