WASHINGTON, DC — At the 2019 ALL IN Challenge Awards Ceremony held to recognize colleges and universities committed to increasing college student voting rates, the University of Mount Union received a silver seal for achieving a student rate between 30 and 39 percent.

“Responsible citizenship is at the core of the mission of Mount Union and bringing new ideas to campus that allow young people to become more passionate, engaged and educated about participating in the American democracy helps fulfil that mission,” said Abby Honaker Schroeder, director of Mount Union’s Regula Center for Public Service and Civic Engagement. “We are excited to be part of the ALL IN challenge and are working towards campus-wide efforts to increase participation.”

Student participation in elections has increased from the 2014 midterm election to the recent 2018 midterm election. According to the National Study of Learning, Voting and Engagement, an initiative of Tufts University’s Institute for Democracy and Higher Education, voter turnout at the more than 1,000 institutions participating in the study increased by 21 points from 19 to 40 percent. 

“We are excited to honor Mount Union with an ALL IN Challenge silver seal in recognition of their intentional efforts to increase democratic engagement and full voter participation,” said Jennifer Domagal-Goldman, executive director of the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge. “More institutions like Mount Union are changing culture on campus by institutionalizing nonpartisan democratic engagement efforts that are resulting in the incredible student voter turnout rates that we’ve seen across the country.”

The ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge is a nonpartisan, national initiative recognizing and supporting campuses as they work to increase nonpartisan democratic engagement and full student voter participation. The Challenge encourages higher education institutions to help students form the habits of active and informed citizenship and make democratic participation a core value on their campus.

More than 560 campuses, enrolling more than 6.2 million students, have joined the Challenge since its launch in summer 2016.

Mount Union has done several initiatives to increase voter turnout, with the Regula Center spearheading efforts related to Mount Union’s action plan for civic engagement and will continue to find unique ways to engage college students and the greater Alliance community. Many of the current initiatives are discussed in a blog titled, “Nurturing Students to Register, Vote, and Engage in Politics” by Dr. Lori Kumler, associate professor of political science at Mount Union, for the American Political Science Association.

To learn more about Mount Union’s civic engagement efforts and to view its ALL IN Challenge report for 2018, visit mountunion.edu/regula-center.