Around the country, political candidates are working tirelessly on the last days of their 2006 campaigns, hoping to secure a victory on election day next month. Many citizens have already made up their minds about the candidates, but how can we be sure that prospective voters will actually get to the polls to vote?

One way is through education.

In the mid-1990s, three notable professors of political science, Sidney Verba, Kay Lehman Scholozman and Henry E. Brady, produced compelling empirical evidence indicating that the more education individuals have the more likely it is that they will participate in civic affairs. They surveyed roughly 15,000 individuals and conducted 2,500 personal interviews for their book, Voice and Equality: Civic Voluntarism in American Politics, that presented a profile of Americans who are engaged in political affairs and their involvement in civic activities.

This issue of Connections focuses on the ways Jesuit colleges and universities are helping students understand the political process and encouraging them to play an active role in that process by voting, or through other types of civic engagement including campaign work, advocacy, informal community work, or affiliation with a political organization. Three years ago, Xavier University established a one-of-a-kind honors program, "Politics, Philosophy and the Public," that explores the idea of the public as experience. Students in the program are required to combine an interdisciplinary examination of the history and present state of civic culture in the United States with practical applications in electoral and legislative politics.

As our country searches for solutions to war, poverty, healthcare concerns, education and ever-increasing partisanship, now more than ever we need to elect the best candidates to deal with these complex issues, and it starts with an informed and educated republic. We commend AJCU institutions for doing their part to raise civic awareness.

See you at the polls.