13 March 2024

2024 is a super election year in the three federal states of Thuringia, Brandenburg and Saxony: local elections (from 26 May), European elections (6 to 9 June) and state elections (1 September in Thuringia) are all coming up. The "92 Days" campaign, in which Schmalkalden University of Applied Sciences is also involved, is now calling on students at all Thuringian universities to register their main place of residence in the state so that they can vote in the upcoming elections, get involved and support democracy.

On the social media channels of numerous Thuringian universities, people have been stumbling across the flickering animated message "92 days" for a few days now. However, nothing was initially revealed about the background to the "92 days". Since 13 February, it has been clear what the universities and the designers of the campaign are aiming to achieve: they want to draw attention to the fact that you have to register your main place of residence in Thuringia in good time in order to be able to vote and have a say: Namely, three months or up to 92 days before the respective election date.

"Although many students have made a conscious decision to study in Thuringia, they never register in their city or community. We have recognised this untapped vocal potential and want to address it specifically," says Burkhart von Scheven, Professor of Image-Text Conception at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, describing the campaign's approach. "Time is of the essence, as local elections are due to take place on 26 May in Weimar, for example, as well as in other Thuringian cities. In order to arouse as much curiosity as possible and generate attention for the topic, we have decided to make a deadline the subject of our communication."

Because many students and employees don't realise this: To be allowed to vote in a Thuringian municipality, you not only have to be registered there on the election date, but also at least 92 days or three months beforehand. The deadline for re-registering for the local elections on 26 May is therefore 26 February. Time is therefore pressing for all those who are not registered as primary residents in their place of study but want to have a say in how politics will be organised in their immediate living environment in the coming years.

It is precisely this "time problem" that the communication experts have turned into a solution: the "92 Days" campaign generates attention, educates and activates in good time - ideally not only students who want to re-register. "Alongside the posts on social media, we have also Microsite www.92tage.dewhich provides further information and directs users to the registration form with just a few clicks. This can be filled in directly, printed out, signed and sent to the local authorities," von Scheven continues.

The following Thuringian universities are participating in the campaign with postings on their numerous university channels and notices on their own websites: Erfurt University of Applied Sciences, University of Erfurt, Ernst Abbe University of Applied Sciences Jena, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Nordhausen University of Applied Sciences, Schmalkalden University of Applied Sciences and the University of Music FRANZ LISZT Weimar. The platforms will also continue to feature the "92-day message" for the upcoming European elections in June and the state elections on 1 September 2024.

www.92tage.de