ANN ARBOR, MI - Luis Gonzales empathizes with University of Michigan students who perceive the voting process as an inconvenience. After all, he used to be one of them.

After a stint serving in the military, though, Gonzales says he better recognizes the importance of taking part in his civic duty.

"Having been in the service, I've seen a lot of countries that don't have the right or the ability to voice who they want to speak on their behalf," said Gonzales, 29, who spent a few minutes taking time to register as a voter in Ann Arbor inside the Ford School of Public Policy.

"You come back to America and you realize this is a privilege that we have. People take it for granted."

Gonzales was able to change his voter registration address from his hometown of Holland, Mich., in a matter of minutes thanks to a kiosk inside the Ford School for The Big Ten Voting Challenge. The initiative aims to increase the number of eligible student voters across the country and encourage participation at the polls for all elections.

UM is one of 14 Big Ten institutions participating in the challenge, attempting to bring midterm election voting participation rates up. During the 2014 midterm election, just 14 percent of UM students who were eligible voted, compared to 44.7 percent during the 2016 election.

The voting challenge, which pits Big Ten universities against each other in friendly competition, is just one of the numerous efforts on campus to get more students eligible to vote prior to the Oct. 9 voter registration deadline.

UM President Mark Schlissel announced the university was participating in the challenge last September. Following the 2018 election, trophies will go to two universities - the one with the highest eligible voter turnout and the one with the most improved turnout.

UM also has streamlined the registration process for students with its Ginsberg Center partnering with TurboVote. The online program allows students to sign up to receive election reminders, get registered to vote and apply for their absentee ballot.

Ginsberg Center Director Dave Waterhouse said the center did a scan of the campus prior to the 2016 presidential election and noticed there was no group providing a leadership role to help organize students to vote and educate them on the issues.

"We've stepped into that space of helping students understand the issues and understand how certain offices might impact them as students," Waterhouse said.

Students at UM face some unique challenges other voters in Michigan don't, Waterhouse said, including the state's law that you need to either register in-person or vote in-person the first time you vote.

Other students need to determine whether they should register to vote on campus with a short-term address or keep the address from their hometown, if they feel the need to vote on issues that impact them back home.

For students who aren't yet registered to vote, Waterhouse said the Secretary of State's Mobile Office will be on campus Monday, Oct. 8, inside the Michigan League.

Students also have played a part in ramping up those efforts during this election cycle, including the Turn Up Turnout student group.

Started by UM professor Edie Goldenberg, the nonpartisan group's goal is to increase voter registration and turnout among 18- to 24-year-olds by helping fill out voter registration forms, helping acquire absentee ballots and involving graduate students in the process as volunteers.

Turn Up Turnout volunteer and Ph.D. candidate Logan Woods said students at UM face somewhat unique challenges as election time approaches, with many participating in their first election.

"One of the hurdles is it's a mobile population, so they move around a lot and their addresses change frequently," he said. "They constantly need to update their information. Another hurdle is requesting absentee ballots and making sure that ballot requests and registrations are done on time, because states have such different deadlines and requirements."

First-year master's student Meghan Linder had previously registered to vote in the 2016 election as a resident of Chicago. When she moved to Ann Arbor to attend school, she didn't think she would be eligible to vote in the state without a Michigan driver's license.

Being able to register locally, as Linder did Thursday, has given her a great sense of purpose as the Nov. 6 election approaches.

"I think it's very different voting in Michigan - which is a swing state - versus Illinois, where every single election, whether I voted or not, I knew exactly how it would go," Linder said.

"I really wanted to vote somewhere I knew my vote would actually count. With the political climate we have now, I think everyone getting out to vote is more important now than it ever has been with the country being so divided."

Linder believes students are viewing politics differently following a contentious 2016 election cycle, while current events like the hearing for prospective Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh have galvanized potential voters leading up to Nov. 6.

Making the process of getting registered more visible and accessible, she said, can only help students get more involved in doing their civic duty.

"It's very easy to say: 'Oh, this doesn't affect me, I'm in college, it's a bubble,'" she said.

"I think a large portion of it is just accessibility," Linder said, referring to the challenges students face. "I'm new here to Michigan in general. I don't know where my polling place is. Being out of state, I didn't think I could even vote in Michigan."

From the governor's race to Proposal 2 to the vote to legalize recreational marijuana, there is a lot at stake during this year's midterm, UM graduate student Taylor Lascko said, making this election cycle particularly intriguing.

Lascko, a native of Muskegon who earned her undergrad degree from Michigan State, took a few minutes Thursday to change her address to vote in Ann Arbor.

Admittedly, Lascko said it can be difficult for students like her to participate in the voting process when they already have "tunnel vision" once a new academic year starts. The vote to legalize recreational marijuana in Michigan, she said, might create increased interest on the Ann Arbor campus.

"I know that's something a lot of people are interested in participating in that vote for," she said. "Especially on a college campus, whether you're for or against it, it's an issue people feel really strongly about. That's something that might encourage more people to get out there."