EIU Love Your Space Room Decorating Contest: How Voting Works & How to Win

What is the EIU Love Your Space contest and who runs it?

The EIU Love Your Space Room Decorating Contest is a photo competition run by Eastern Illinois University Housing. Current EIU students who live in the residence halls, University Court or Greek Court can enter their rooms, and the public then votes on the entries. The entry and voting page sits on the university's own domain at eiu.edu, so the contest is a university program rather than a newspaper or community poll.

The market is Illinois, and the contest is tied to Eastern Illinois University housing rather than to a city-wide ballot. The page names the residence halls, University Court and Greek Court as the eligible housing types.

Eligibility to enter and eligibility to vote are separate questions here. The entry is limited to students in those housing types, while the vote is described as a Facebook user vote, so the people who can enter and the people who can vote are not the same group.

Which Love Your Space dates are confirmed?

The 2025 contest is the dated edition on the page. The contest opened on Sept. 7, the entry period closed on Sept. 19, voting started on Sept. 22, and voting ended on Sept. 26. Live ballots also exist for 2024, so the contest has run in at least two years.

The timeline below keeps the dated stages separate from the rules that apply during voting.

The page does not say whether entries are split into categories, so the category structure is unknown here; confirm on the live ballot each cycle.

How does a supporter vote on the Love Your Space ballot today?

A supporter votes through Facebook, and the votes are counted on Woobox. Each Facebook user may vote once per day until voting ends, so the vote is a daily action rather than a single click. The page sets the daily limit in plain terms, which makes the rule easy to follow for anyone who returns on each day of the window.

Because the count runs through Woobox, a supporter should keep the voting page within reach on each day of the window. A vote cast on one day does not carry over to the next, so a supporter who misses a day loses that day's vote and cannot make it up later in the window.

A supporter who wants to build interest among friends should share the entry during the voting period, since the daily limit means each Facebook user contributes one vote per day. The general approach to public ballots is covered in the guide to getting more votes online, which applies to this contest without naming any particular room.

How does this contest sit beside other Illinois ballots?

Illinois has several public ballots, and this one stands apart because it is limited to students in Eastern Illinois University housing. The neighbouring Illinois programs run on different organizers and platforms, so the rules and dates do not carry over from one to the next.

The state hub lists the BAGI Parade of Homes People's Choice ballot, the Sauk Valley Favorites ballot, and the Best of Chicago vote from the Chicago Reader. The Chicago Style Weddings Best Of ballot and the CommunityVotes programs in Peoria and Rockford complete the set.

The main difference is the eligibility. A reader looking for a statewide or city-wide ballot will not find this contest's entry rules there, since only students living in the named housing types may enter.

How can supporters help a student's room climb the vote?

The only lever a supporter has on this ballot is the public vote itself. Each Facebook user casts one vote per day, so the most useful action is to bring more eligible voters to the Facebook vote during the window, which closes at the end of Sept. 26 in the 2025 contest.

Some readers ask whether outside services can add votes. Services that sell votes exist for many contests, but the Love Your Space page does not mention outside help, and its once-per-day rule for each Facebook user leaves little room for bulk voting. Readers who want a general overview of those services can read the buy votes online overview, and should check the university's terms before relying on any outside help.

Supporters who follow other Illinois ballots can browse the state listings at the Illinois contest hub to see how other public votes handle their own windows and eligibility rules.