Want to discuss the upcoming primaries & caucuses in your political science course? Check out these resources from APSA’s RAISE the Vote!

Spring will usher in a flurry of electoral activity across the U.S. with the arrival of the much-anticipated presidential primaries and caucuses. As such, this is a great time for political science educators to talk to their students about current political happenings and how they can get involved. APSA’s RAISE the Vote campaign provides an ever-evolving collection of blog posts related to civic education and engagement that faculty can draw on or share with students focusing on relevant research, teaching practices, and strategies for campus engagement. Several of last month’s posts provided specific ideas about how to use political theory to respond to students who ask: “Why should I vote?”

In January, the focus of RAISE the Vote blog posts will shift to those US presidential primaries and caucuses with the earliest spring registration deadlines. In these posts, some faculty discuss how they integrate student trips to the Iowa caucuses into their courses. Some discuss their research related to a specific state primary/caucus or how faculty and students are getting out the vote on their campus. Still others talk about how primaries and caucuses function and are received differently in US territories like Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. Faculty are encouraged to draw on these blog post resources in the classroom and to encourage their students to register, vote, and become more civically educated and engaged.

APSA introduced the RAISE the Vote campaign, where RAISE stands for “Resources to Amplify and Increase Student Engagement,” in November 2019 with the goal of increasing college student registration, voting, and civic engagement by outlining best practices that faculty can use in the classroom and on-campus to encourage student engagement and by highlighting the research, teaching, and service that political scientists are undertaking as relates to civic engagement and voting.

More information about the campaign, including recent blog posts and articles, and instructions for how to contribute a blog post to the campaign, can be found on the RAISE the Vote website.

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