Politicians are not the only ones squaring off this November. This year’s Campus Cup is showcasing Utah’s colleges and universities in a battle to have the most voters. A victory in the competition brings not only bragging rights to a campus but also the Campus Cup trophy. According to Casey Saxton, a member of the Utah State University Student Association’s Executive Council, the desired result of the friendly contest is about more than just the coveted cup.
“The goal of the Campus Cup competition is really to engage college students, to get them registered to vote and also to get them out to vote. The Campus Cup competition itself has two components. One, is voter registration and two is voter turnout,” he said. “The way we’re measuring turnout is through the social media component. The biggest goal was just to drive voter engagement and voter turnout.”
Schools across the state have spent the last several months pushing to register their students to vote on Tuesday. There has seen a tremendous response from students who are eager to participate in the elections, Saxton said.
“At Utah State we registered 910 students to vote this election cycle, which we’re extremely happy about,” he said. “It’s a bit higher than we’ve ever done at USU in the past. The biggest thing is giving students the opportunity to vote and they can’t vote if they’re not registered.”
To help their college win, students are instructed to be pictured with their mail-in ballot or “I Voted” sticker and to attach their school’s hashtag on a social media website.
