Virginia Tech launches portal for students to register to vote

BLACKSBURG, Va. (WDBJ) - With less than two months until the general election, Virginia Tech has launched a tool to make it easier for students to get registered.

The launch of the new “All In To Vote” online registration portal gives students and faculty information on the voting process and the ability to fill out all the initial information needed to register to vote at their fingertips.

After filling out the basics, it then directs users to their proper state website or mailing address required to complete and submit their voter registration forms.

The portal is especially important for out-of-state students or students studying abroad, as it gives them better and quicker access.

“The students that maybe are in other states, that we don’t have as many students on campus, they’re still able to get that information and get to the spot that they need to go to a lot quicker than trying to figure out where is my state website housed and doing some Google searching through that,” said Jes Davis, Associate Director of VT Engage.

The portal also provides non-partisan information about each of the candidates. Davis says this will help young voters who may not be up to date with information or even know who is on the ballot.

“I think that we have to work together to talk about the great issues of the day, but we also need to find sources and places in which we can go to get information through that and really be able to sift through and then decide what it is that we want to say with our vote, with our voices and what that looks like more broadly,” said Davis.

Virginia Tech is nationally recognized as a Voter Friendly Campus and typically sees higher student voting rates than other institutions.

In the last presidential election in 2020, a campus report shows nearly 90% of students were registered to vote and a little over 70% of those students did vote in that election.

With the new voting registration portal, Davis says this will also foster more community engagement and open up the conversation about how to go out and vote.

“We’re hoping to see because it’s another presidential election year, to kind of get back to that and kind of engaging in the conversation. Getting folks active rather than just registering to vote, we also want students to go out and vote,” said Davis.

The portal is not open just for this year’s upcoming presidential election, but will remain open for other elections, as well.

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