Department of Political Science

Just as we did in 2016, the Political Science Department co-sponsored an election series this fall about the 2018 midterm elections, along with PACE (the Political and Civic Education Program) at IU and the Civic Leaders Center, led by former Fort Wayne mayor Paul Helmke. This fall the series included live-streaming of the two debates among U.S. Senate candidates from Indiana, a film about campaign finance, a panel of former Senate candidates talking about their experiences, and a panel of state party chairs discussing the midterms from their party's perspective. The department is also part of the Big Ten Voting Challenge, in which a lot of students, staffers, and faculty members are engaged in a competition to see which Big Ten school can generate the biggest increase in voter turnout (relative to the last midterm election in 2014). These are ways in which the department can offer its expertise and its engagement to our students and to the wider community.