Challenge:
Increase voter engagement at Northwestern during the midterm elections.
Solution:
Ballot B’s politically engages college-aged students by providing education and offering actionable steps to participate in all elections, getting voters informed about local, state and federal issues up and down the ballot.
Context:
Ballot B’s is a project developed with Northwestern’s Center for Civic Engagement.
Timeline:
10 Weeks
Problem:
Student voting in midterm and local elections is significantly lower than in the Presidential election because college students feel both disconnected from issues and unprepared to vote at school and at home.
Why this matters:
Local policies have a direct impact on people - Most of the issues that affect people’s day-to-day lives are decided at the local level
People can influence the policy-making decisions - Plenty of issues people care about occur at the local level
Elections are decided by a margin - Local votes have even more power because fewer people vote in these elections
So, we aimed to provide accessible information to educate and empower young people to be more politically active.
Ballot B’s consists of three main touch points:
Ballot Board
A personalized web dashboard where users can learn more about the issues they care about, take political action, and customize their interactions
Ballot Briefs
Jargon-free texts with action oriented messages and information on their home state
Ballot Booth
Students can interact with Willie the Wildcat, share the issues they care about, receive a prize, and sign up for Briefs