Presented as part of the Election 2020 Series.

As Election Day 2020 fast approaches, institutional leaders, faculty, staff, and student coalitions know that this is an election like none other in recent history. Students face both technical (where, when, and how to vote, confusing and changing rules, extreme inconvenience, voter suppression) and motivational (disillusionment with the system, lack of social cohesion, physical distancing, misinformation) barriers that call for immediate and campus-wide attention.  In this interactive session, participants will work in small groups on distinct challenges to create a vision of success and brainstorm ways to achieve that success. Participants will also hear from researchers examining this election season in the context of the pandemic and robust activism about ways to rise to this critical moment in U.S. history. Active participation via breakout discussion is expected of any registrants, so please join in person. This session will be facilitated by Duy Trinh and Nancy Thomas at Tufts University/Tisch College’s Institute for Democracy & Higher Education, the applied research center that sends you your NSLVE reports and Election Imperatives 2.0 and 2020, research-driven recommendations for strengthening student political learning, discourse, equity, and participation in democracy.