The son of Pakistani immigrants who moved to South Carolina in the 1970s, Mr. Ahmad said he got involved in the voting challenge to counteract the anti-Muslim rhetoric of the recent presidential election and to “humanize Muslims” at his school.

But in the effort to increase voter turnout among his classmates, he faced an unusual obstacle: the Greenville County Board of Voter Registration and Elections refused to register out-of-state students unless they filled out a special questionnaire that asked about ties to the local community, including church membership and whether their parents claimed them as dependents on income taxes.

Mr. Ahmad and two of his friends filed a lawsuit challenging the practice, with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union. A judge ruled in their favor, reversing a 1973 ruling in a similar lawsuit filed by Furman students. In 2016, Furman’s turnout increased to 30 percent.

Looking ahead to this fall, colleges and students are beginning to plan activities to bolster their voting rates.

At Arizona State University, staff are hoping to hire musicians to perform for students waiting in line to vote to generate excitement around the election. Mercer University in Georgia has changed its online portal so that students who are registering for classes online can also register to vote through TurboVote.

East Tennessee State University has never won a football championship in the Southern Conference. But in October, in a ceremony on the football field, the school received a trophy for most improved turnout. The victory came after the school held 30 civic events, including a voter registration party featuring a bluegrass band, political quizzes and a photo booth where students dressed up as Uncle Sam. Voting rates rose from 38 percent in 2012 to 47 percent in 2016.

Now Nathan Farnor, a senior at the school, has been hired temporarily by the university to increase student interest in the coming midterms. In a county where just 27,612 people cast ballots in 2014, the school’s 15,000 students could hold a lot of sway if they turned out to vote.

“A lot of people don’t participate in midterm elections, because they don’t see what the point is,” Mr. Farnor said. But “if students really wanted to campaign, they definitely have a lot of bargaining power.”