CMU students tabling during 2024 National Voter Registration Day. This year's event is on September 16, 2025.
Voter Resources
The Office of Community Engagement and Leadership Development empowers students to meaningfully engage in civic discourse, through community-wide partnerships like Democracy Day and shared resources. Voting is an important step to be civically involved with your community, therefore we provide you with voter registration tools for you to be ready to cast your ballot.
CMU's Voter Registration API
In efforts to ease the voter registration process and increase the accuracy of registrant's information, CMU has created an in-house application in partnership with the Pennsylvania Department of State. This allows undergraduate and graduate students to either register or update their information in Pennsylvania. This application is a safe and secure process, and all submitted information is passed directly to the state.
If an undergraduate or graduate student wishes to register or update their information for a non-Pennsylvania state, they can access that information via CMU TurboVote. The deadline for non-Pennsylvania Voter Registration will vary per state.
Confirm Your Voter Registration Status
If you submitted a voter registration application for Pennsylvania but your registration does not show up, then check your voter application status. Registered to vote elsewhere? Confirm your voter registration status.
Know Your Polling Place
To learn where your polling place is located, check out the Vote.org Polling Place Locator. Please make sure to check your polling place prior to election day. CMU residence halls and fraternity and sorority housing vote at four different locations.
Take Your ID Card
Every state has different voter ID rules. VoteRiders provides voter ID assistance so that every American can cast a ballot that counts. VoteRiders' Voter ID Guide shares the latest information about what's required for voting in person or by mail.
Get to Know Your Ballot
Ballotpedia connects people with federal, state, and local politics through neutral, accurate and verifiable information on government officials and the offices they hold, political issues and public policy, elections, candidates, and the influencers of politics. View a sample ballot.
Learn More About Your Candidates
The League of Women Voters Educational Fund has created a voter guide about the candidates on your ballot.
Campus Vote Project
The Campus Vote Project creates state-based student voter guides and answers questions specific to college students. For example, “Will registering to vote with my campus address affect my driver’s license or car registration?”
Election Day FAQs
Community Engagement and Leadership Development has prepared frequently asked questions related to Election Day.
Troubles with Voting?
For issues voting and ballot issues contact your local election office. You can also learn more about election protection.
Become a Poll Worker
Support democracy by becoming a poll worker! Poll workers are paid for their training and work at the polls on election day.
The Responsible Voter's Guide to GenAI and Political Campaigning
Take action to support the integrity of the democratic process.
Voter Engagement Programming
Have an idea for a voter engagement or post-election program? Contact us for help with planning, advising or promotion!
Voter Ambassador
Interested in voter engagement? Want to develop your leadership skills? Sign up to be a Voter Ambassador.
Resources for Faculty & Coaches
Civic Engagement Course Syllabi Database: Search Project Pericles’ interactive database with 100+ civic engagement syllabi and modules for deliberative dialogue, voter engagement and addressing voter suppression. This resource provides inspiration for how real faculty members integrate civic engagement into their courses. The database includes examples of entire course syllabi and single modules, activities, or assignments that incorporate civic engagement into the curriculum.
Join the Faculty Network for Student Voting Rights: The Network is comprised of a diverse group of faculty at all levels and institutions throughout the US. The Network invites interested faculty, from teaching assistants and adjuncts to tenured professors, to join in founding nonpartisan national and state-level faculty networks to ensure student voting rights on and off-campus.
Teaching in Tumultuous Times: The Eberly Center describes several strategies instructors can consider for how to approach class and support students around the election. For an individual consultation on applying these strategies to your particular course context, email the Eberly Center.
All In Campus Democracy Challenge: Coaches can engage student-athlete voters using All In’s voter education, registration, turnout and advocacy tools and resources to support the engagement of college athletics in the democratic process.
Democracy Day is November 4, 2025!
Democracy Day at CMU is dedicated to fostering civic participation, well-being and community engagement. There are no classes on Democracy Day prior to 5 p.m. and the entire CMU community — faculty, staff and students — is encouraged to participate as their schedules allow.
CMU Named a Most Engaged Campus for Student Voting
Carnegie Mellon was named a 2024 ALL IN Most Engaged Campus for College Student Voting by the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge. The ALL IN program recognizes participating institutions that worked to increase nonpartisan student voter registration, education and turnout, and ensure equitable access to the polls for their campus community.
The Most Engaged Campuses for College Student Voting is part of ALL IN’s mission to advance voting efforts on college and university campuses across the country. This year’s honorees span 41 states and the District of Columbia and include a diverse group of institutions, including 119 minority-serving institutions, four HBCUs, 86 Hispanic-serving institutions and 105 community colleges. Learn more about the All IN Campus Democracy Challenge.
Voter Friendly Campus
Carnegie Mellon was again named a Voter Friendly Campus for 2025-2026. CMU is among 23 universities in Pennsylvania that received this distinction for its creative ways to engage students in the voting atmosphere. To be considered, universities must turn in their action plan and submit a final report detailing voting data statistics. The Fair Elections Center’s Campus Vote Project and NASPA established the Voter Friendly Campus Designation to “help institutions develop engagement action plans that coordinate administrators, faculty, and student organizations in civic and electoral engagement.” Learn more about NASPA and Voter Friendly Campuses.
The All In Campus Democracy Challenge, which seeks to develop a nonpartisan democratic engagement action plan, granted CMU the Highly Established Action Plan Seal for the 2022 election.
National Student Vote Summit & Investing in Institutionalization Award
In November 2024, CMU Student Affairs IT and the office of Community Engagement and Leadership Development represented Carnegie Mellon University at the National Student Vote Summit at the University of Maryland. They presented about the success and implementation of CMU’s PA Voting App, an initiative that simplifies online voter registration for students. CMU is the first university in Pennsylvania to offer the API. The CMU team, including student leaders Zach Berger and Zia Lyle and CMU staff Liz Vaughan and Alfredo Lozano, were honored with the summit’s Investing in Institutionalization Award.
CMU Student Affairs partnered with Students Learn Students Vote Coalition (SLSV), the Institute for Responsive Government (IRG), and the Pennsylvania Department of State to bring the API to fruition.
