Faculty and Staff Resources for Supporting Student Voting

Faculty and staff can play an important role by helping students access voter education resources. The following page contains links to relevant Penn State policies, guidance for faculty and staff, and approved resources that you can share with students.

Relevant Penn State Policies

Before talking with students about voting, faculty and staff should review the following Penn State policies to ensure they understand their roles and responsibilities.

Key Points

• All voting-related content must be non-partisan, non-compulsory, and non-incentivized.
  • While faculty and staff are strictly prohibited from offering incentives for voting or registering to vote, they may incentivize participation in non-partisan voter education activities, such as completion of the Office for General Education’s voter education module (see further below)
• It is illegal to “pay” for votes in any way, including extra credit or assignment points. Play it safe. Do NOT provide incentives for voting or even for registration. Registration and voting can be encouraged, but are optional.
• It is imperative that everything you communicate (verbally or non-verbally) is evidence-based and non-partisan.
• Remember: voting forms and information they may contain must not be collected by faculty.

Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence Resources

For further guidance on teaching and instruction surrounding the election, please consider reviewing the following resources prepared by the Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence (SITE).

Managing Disruptions in the Classroom

As the election approaches, there is a possibility of increased tension on campus. The following resources provide guidance on how to manage disruptions in the classroom.

Supporting Student Voting

Remote Asynchronous Instruction on Election Day

University Faculty Senate Policy 42-27 (Class Attendance) encourages instructors to offer asynchronous instruction on Election Day, wherever possible, so students have time to get to the polls and vote. For more information, please refer to the Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence’s guidance note on teaching on Election Day. This guidance also includes some practical tips for how to implement remote asynchronous instruction in your course(s).

PSU Votes Approved Resources

Faculty and staff can help ensure students have access to accurate, non-partisan voting information by sharing voter education resources with students.

PSU Votes have collected a series of additional resources to help colleges, departments, and other units disseminate voter education materials.

These resources include printable flyers and posters, sample student newsletter blurbs, digital signage and social media content.

Instructors are also encouraged to visit the Office for General Education’s Penn State Voting Resources microsite for additional materials. Resources featured on this website include:

• A downloadable “Register to Vote” flyer and “Registering to Vote” decision tree that you can post in Canvas; and
• A Canvas voter education module that includes useful civics information and more detailed information about voter registration and voting. Instructors teaching courses with relevant learning objectives may want to offer the module for extra credit.

Where to direct students if they have questions

If students have questions about voting and voter registration processes, please encourage them to visit psuvotes.psu.edu, email psuvotes@psu.edu, or visit 103 HUB-Robeson Center.

Additional Resources

For those who want to learn more, here are some further resources.