Ohio State President Walter “Ted” Carter Jr. sits in front of a slide showing voting data during the Faculty Senate meeting on Thursday. Credit: Nathan Snizik | Lantern Reporter
Ohio State will offer university-wide asynchronous classes on every federal general election day as part of an effort to encourage civic engagement, beginning in 2026.
Last Thursday, the University Senate approved a measure calling on the provost to implement an “Asynchronous Learning and Civic Engagement Day” on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November of even-numbered years, to coincide with federal general elections.
For required in-person or synchronous sessions, instructors can submit an exemption for specific academic reasons. It also acknowledged that lab and clinical courses may be excused when needed for compliance, certification or other essential educational purposes.
Standard language will be provided across university syllabi describing the asynchronous Election Day policy and the opt-out process to reduce confusion across various university departments, Daniel Thompson, co-chair of Council on Enrollment and Student progress, said.
The resolution extends a program piloted during the 2024 general election.
“The goal is to apply the asynchronous learning day to as many students as possible,” Thompson said.
The council led the evaluation of the 2024 general election pilot with a survey of about 5,000 undergraduate students and 2,600 instructors.
Around 97 percent of student respondents and almost 80 percent of instructor respondents supported the idea.
Thompson said students reported benefits that included reduced stress and anxiety, relief from regular duties and the ability to return to their home districts to vote.
“Everything we can measure is pointing in the same direction,” Thompson said. “This really did make a difference for students.”
The council debated whether the asynchronous day should extend to include yearly local elections, primaries or special elections, but limited the resolution to federal general elections to build broader support with the possibility of future expansion, Thompson said.
“Including these days could very well be a possibility in the future,” Thompson said. “This will definitely not be the last we will be seeing of this proposal.”
The resolution was originally introduced by the council and carried endorsements from the Undergraduate Student Government, the Council of Graduate Students and the Inter-Professional Council, which the proposal said, “strongly support Election Day being a day free from classes on the university calendar.”
The current push for an asynchronous Election Day began in 2022, after USG representatives in the University Senate raised concerns that in-person class obligations on election day were hindering students from voting and civically engaging.
Thursday’s passage of the resolution was the combined effort of multiple administrations, according to Kathrina Noma, vice president of USG and a fourth-year in public management, leadership and policy. .
“This is part of our mission for empowering all Buckeyes,” Noma said. “We want people to be civically engaged and want people to go out to vote.”
As 2026 approaches, student advocates and university leaders hope the new tradition will make voting not just easier, but an integral part of the Buckeye experience.
