Colleges get poor marks in voter registration

WASHINGTON – The semester just started at most schools, but the grade is in for more than one-third of the nation’s colleges on the assignment of helping register young voters – a C or worse.

Harvard University’s Institute of Politics and The Chronicle of Higher Education sent surveys to 815 colleges and universities last month to determine whether they met the spirit of the Higher Education Act. The law requires schools that accept federal funds to request enough voter registration forms for their campuses four months before registration deadlines.

Some 249 schools responded to the survey, which was released Monday. Seventeen percent met the requirement and 37 percent said they graded their effectiveness at registering young voters at C or worse.

“It was pretty clear that not all knew what the requirements were under the Higher Education Act,” said Philip Sharp, director of the Harvard Institute.

Other findings from the survey, sent to presidents of two and four-year colleges, show that voter registration drives are held at seven in 10 schools. About half the schools thought they were effectively registering young voters.

Responses might have been different had people other than college presidents been surveyed, and had the survey not taken place when most college presidents are not at their schools, said Terry Hartle, senior vice president for the American Council on Education, a trade group that represents colleges and universities.

Some schools were singled out for their efforts. Purdue University includes voter registration information with fee statements, while the University of New Hampshire sends similar letters and has a student committee that encourages student voting.

San Francisco State University has a polling place on campus.