Case Study: Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) First in the Nation to Modernize Voter Registration Drives

Before 2019, CMU student-led voter registration efforts were decentralized and relied on paper forms, making management, impact measurement, and metric tracking challenging. To improve this, CMU partnered with the SLSV Coalition and the Institute for Responsive Government to leverage Pennsylvania’s existing API infrastructure to create a centralized, digital system.

• Implementation: CMU integrated the state’s API into its secure single sign-on portal. The system pre-filled forms with verified university data (e.g., standardized addresses) to reduce erroneous rejections of eligible voters. For security, a “catch and release” method transmitted data to the state without local storage after submission.
• Outcomes: The Fall 2024 pilot yielded over 850 applications, successfully registering approximately 10% of eligible Pittsburgh campus students. The initiative demonstrated a practical, secure way to reduce student paperwork and improve data quality for election officials.
• Lessons/Future: Technical feedback indicated a need for increased lines of communication and error reporting, to ensure ongoing improvement. Future plans include adding mail-in ballot requests and integrating the API into additional processes such as class registration or orientation.

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