Western Illinois University Honored in Campus Democracy Challenge for Student Voting
Western Illinois University was awarded a Bronze Seal Monday from the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge for nonpartisan student voter participation efforts in the 2020 election.
A Bronze Seal designates that WIU students had between 50-60 percent voter turnout in the last presidential election.
“I am honored that the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge has recognized Western’s efforts to encourage student voting with this Excellence in Student Voter Engagement recognition,” said WIU Political Science Chair Keith Boeckelman. “We plan to continue this important work in upcoming federal elections.”
The ALL In Campus Democracy Challenge hosted its third biennial awards ceremony virtually Monday afternoon.
“The rise in voter participation and engagement for college students in last year’s presidential election, amidst a global pandemic, was tremendous and will undoubtedly be tied to the tireless efforts of the dedicated students, faculty, administrators, and partner organizations that are part of the ALL IN Challenge network,” said Jen Domagal-Goldman, executive director of the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge. “The hard work of these trailblazing honorees will help support many of the country’s future leaders in fulfilling the equitable, engaged vision of democracy to which we aspire.”
More than 840 colleges and universities are participated in the challenge, across all 50 states and the District of Columbia, enrolling more than 9.1 million students.
WIU was also honored in recent weeks for seeing a 12 percent increase in voting over the 2016 election, moving from 45.3 percent in 2016 to 57.3 percent in 2020. That data was compiled by the Institute for Democracy and Higher Education (IDHE), creators of the National Study of Learning, Voting and Engagement (NSLVE). IDHE is located at Tufts University’s Tisch College of Civic Life.
For more information on the WIU Department of Political Science, visit wiu.edu/politicalscience.
