NJ Ballot Bowl 2025 is a program of the New Jersey Department of State’s Jersey Civic Engage initiative, and a joint effort with the ALL In Campus Democracy Challenge. It is a statewide non-partisan voter registration and engagement competition led by and for students! This year Ballot Bowl 2025 will again count both pledges to vote and voter registrations as part of the competition. The combined total of registrations and pledges, as a percentage of total student enrollment, determines the winners in each competitive conference.

This year New Jersey will elect the Governor, as well as the members of the New Jersey Assembly. There are also municipal and county offices on the ballot. The Ballot Bowl is a great opportunity to speak to voters about the impact that their vote makes in their communities, our state, and the nation, and how it strengthens our democracy.

Voter registration is an initial step in the voting process, but not the only step. This friendly competition is also about persuading people to commit to vote. That will mean talking specifically about the value of voting, not about a particular candidate, but how voting affects all of us. We believe that when people feel they have a stake in their community they are more likely to participate in its public life, involve others, and vote.

As an additional optional contest within the Ballot Bowl, we will again be conducting the Ballot Bowl Community Engage competition. This separate and optional contest focuses on teams increasing civic and voter engagement in the broader community that their campus is part of by registering voters and asking for pledges to vote for the November General Election.

The NJ Ballot Bowl 2025 will begin on Tuesday, September 2, and it will run through Election Day, November 4.

If your campus would like to participate in the Ballot Bowl this year, just fill out the 2025 Ballot Bowl Participation Form.