ALL IN: IU South Bend’s ADP recognized for advancing voter registration, education, turnout

Graphic // ALL IN, courtesy of Elizabeth Bennion

Senior communications major David Saleh, an ADP intern, was selected for the 2025 Student Voting Honor Roll.

By: Mira Costello and Claire McKenna

Editor-in-Chief, Staff-Writer

After working hard throughout 2024, the IU South Bend American Democracy Project (ADP) was identified among the top student democracy groups in the nation. Recognized by the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge, the ADP’s interns were one of only six groups in the country to earn the Standout Nonpartisan Campus Student Vote Group designation.

IU South Bend also was named one of the most engaged campuses for college students voting for 2024, making this the second time the school has won this award, the first being in 2022. Only two other campuses in Indiana – IU Bloomington and IU Indianapolis – were officially designated with IU South Bend as Voter Friendly Campuses. Additionally, IU South Bend was the only Indiana regional campus identified as having a Well Established Campus Action Plan to promote voter registration and participation.

The interns – Liz Howard, Caleb Rice, David Saleh, James Schultz and Jarrett Taft – hosted many campus-wide events to get students involved and give them an opportunity to understand and discuss their local, state and federal government. 

They worked throughout the spring and fall semesters of 2024 to host watch parties for various debates and promote voter registration. The group organized a variety of other events and resources, including voter guides, candidate forums, information sessions and the ADP’s annual Parade to the Polls, where students walk together from IU South Bend to vote at John Adams High School on election day.

Their faculty adviser, Dr. Elizabeth Bennion, is proud, to say the least.

“Whether creating and distributing yard signs and posters, setting up registration tables at major campus events, or speaking in the classroom, at student organization meetings, or at venues in the local community, IU South Bend’s democracy fellows upheld the strictest standards of non-partisanship while making sure that students and other voters in St. Joseph County had the information they needed to cast their ballots,” Bennion said. “They worked mornings, afternoons, evenings, and weekends to ensure that all eligible students could make their voices heard at the polls.”

In a press release, Bennion emphasized the importance of non-partisanship and teamwork in civic engagement efforts. 

“Our students give me hope,” she said. “They demonstrate mutual respect, compassion, and a willingness to communicate openly in a world where people mock, dismiss, and attack others for having differing political beliefs.”

ADP intern David Saleh, a senior communications major and vice president of the Student Government Association, was also selected for the National Student Voting Honor Roll. Across the country, over 200 students are named to the Honor Roll each year for exceptional work in advancing voter registration, providing educational opportunities for peers and encouraging civic participation on their campuses. 

Bennion said she was thrilled to hear about Saleh’s accomplishment.

“He inspired his team and they, in turn, inspire other students to make their voices heard at the polls,” she said. 

Saleh said he is motivated by the potential he and his peers hold.

“As a youth, if we all come together, we can make big impacts on our elections. If we band together, if we do our due diligence and our research, we can make change, and that’s what continues to inspire me,” he said.

In a Zoom call with other students recognized by ALL IN, Saleh discussed the culmination of the work he and his team did throughout the year.

“It came to full fruition when we were watching the presidential election results. We’re in a room – and this is a big space – and it was filled to the brim with over 200 students, faculty and staff of our campus,” he said.

Realizing that many students may not have voted or attended the watch party at all without his team’s hard work, Saleh said, was a proud moment. 

“Watching that happen, all those people in that room together – regardless of whether or not they’re a Democrat, Republican, whatever stance they took – having a slice of pizza together, and knowing that I helped make that happen and create that safe environment for everyone to come and participate, that was one of the proudest moments that I felt in my civic engagement,” he said.

Along the way, Saleh said his team had faced challenges and learned a lot about what it takes to get students involved as educated voters.

“We had a phrase that we utilized in our office a lot, and that was meeting the students where they were at,” he said. “We had this idea that students should come talk to us and should come engage with us, but it was actually us that needed to go and engage with the students.”

To keep up with future ADP events and initiatives, find them on social media @iusbadp. For opportunities to get involved, contact Director Elizabeth Bennion at [email protected]. 

If you want to learn more about the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge or view this year’s honorees, visit allinchallenge.org.