Students from the University of Pittsburgh participated in the 2024 election.
Aaron Jackendoff/sopa image/lightrocket by Getty image
The Education Department issued guidance on Tuesday to prevent universities from using federal work-working living funds to pay for students to conduct voter registration work and other activities that they consider political activity.
The department announced the work research provisions in a dear colleague letter signed by Christopher McCaghren, Acting Assistant ED Secretary.
“Jobs involving partisan or nonpartisan voter registration, vote assistance at a polling place or through a voter hotline, or serving as a poll worker—whether this takes place on or off campus—involve political activity because these activities support the process of voting which is a quintessential political activity whereby voters formally support partisan or nonpartisan political candidates by casting ballots,” McCaghren wrote.
In his letter, he stressed that Ed “encourages institutions to employ students to work in accord with real-life work experiences related to students’ learning courses.”
Education Secretary Linda McMahon responded to the sentiment in a social media post Tuesday, writing that the department “funds political activity on college campuses!” She added: “Under the Trump administration, taxpayers’ dollars will be used to prepare students.”
McCaghren’s letter also warned universities of “assisting and teaching voter fraud”.
The letter said that while institutions are required to make “kind efforts to assign voter registration forms to students,” they should avoid distributing such material to students who they believe are not eligible to vote in state or federal elections.
The move comes as President Donald Trump announced plans to overhaul the overhaul by mid-next year, including a ban on certain voting machines and mail-in voting, although he has no authority to make such changes.
