The University of Michigan’s two Campus Voting Hubs saw a threefold increase in campus voter engagement in 2024 over the 2022 midterm election.
A total of 14,932 voters exercised their right to vote at the hubs — either by depositing their absentee ballots or by voting on-site — at the U-M Museum of Art on Central Campus and the Duderstadt Gallery on North Campus. In 2022, 4,608 absentee ballots were deposited at the hubs, but on-site voting was not available.
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The two hubs also processed 6,373 in-person voter registrations, a 63% increase from 2022. This year, the hubs accounted for 88% of the city of Ann Arbor’s in-person voter registrations.
All told, more than 1,000 people registered to vote at the UMMA hub on Election Day, yet the longest wait to register was 15 minutes. Ann Arbor City Clerk Jackie Beaudry said that efficiency was extraordinary and an indicator of the UMICH Votes coalition’s positive impact on voter participation.
“The Campus Voting Hubs were a success all around, from voter registration numbers, early voting turnout and of course line management on Election Day,” she said. “The lessons learned from 2022 and the changes we made could not have been implemented to this level without the commitment from the entire UMICH Votes team. The city is very grateful for this amazing partnership.”
The partnership represents an ongoing collaboration between the City Clerk’s Office and UMICH Votes, a nonpartisan campus coalition that works to make voting easier and more accessible.
The effort began with the vision of Hannah Smotrich and Stephanie Rowden, both associate professors of art and design at the Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design, and their Creative Campus Voting Project, which worked with the clerk’s office and UMMA to install a satellite clerk’s office in UMMA for the 2020 presidential election. A second site, at the Duderstadt Gallery, was added in 2022.
This year saw the first presidential election with two campus hubs and the first presidential election with nine days of early voting.
“Our design goal has remained the same since 2020,” Rowden said. “We work to make the voting process clear, calm, welcoming and even delightful. Over and over we heard from students how much they appreciated the spaces and the support.”
The Campus Voting Hubs represent the culmination of the coalition’s work across each two-year voting cycle, and the success of both sites was bolstered by the coalition’s ongoing efforts. A campuswide collaborative communications strategy reached 940,000 people, and the UMICH Votes website, which provided information about voting and voting processes, had 62,142 views from August to Nov. 5.
Jenna Bednar, faculty director of UMICH Votes and Democratic Engagement, noted the importance of the efforts of the coalition for the student body.
“As faculty director, I am immensely proud of the work of the UMICH Votes coalition. Their work directly impacts the development of habits of student voter engagement. I look forward to supporting this work for future elections to come,” Bednar said.
