Wichita State University and Quickdraw Studios, the winner of WSU's student 2016 New Venture Competition, were selected to receive $3,600 each for their Joy of Voting initiative projects.
To help engage and involve Sedgwick County voters, Quickdraw Studios will create a Wichita-specific interactive video game. The Pacman-style game will be team-based, designed to liven up the experience of voting.
WSU’s Community Service Board will host an Election Day Engagement Bash, an American-themed carnival to bring students, faculty and staff together for a day of civic engagement.
“Encouraging more participation and local decision-making strengthens local democracy,” said Benjamin de la Pena, Knight Foundation director for community and national strategy. “These projects will not only encourage people to celebrate their civic responsibility, but also create a culture of engagement.”
Citizen University, a national nonprofit based in Seattle, started the Joy of Voting project to address the trend of low voter turnout in local elections. In 2015, only 16 percent of registered voters turned out for the Sedgwick County elections.
The Joy of Voting project seeks to create localized, action-oriented projects in four cities across the country; Wichita, Miami, Philadelphia and Akron, Ohio.
The idea comes from Eric Liu, founder and CEO of Citizen University. He wanted to recreate the raucous, participatory activity and pageantry that surrounded 18th and 19th century elections.
“Instead of ‘eat your vegetables,’ or ‘do your duty,’ voting should feel more like ‘join the club,’ said Liu. “Or better yet, ‘join the party.’”
Other winning Wichita organizations include Arts Partners Wichita, Bikewalk Wichita and La Casa de la Semilla.
Citizen University will examine the success of the experiments to determine best practices and the possibility for scaling ideas in future election cycles, while sharing lessons with other cities across the country.
For more information on Citizen University and the Joy of Voting projects in Wichita, go to citizenuniversity.us.