Big Ten Voting Challenge
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The ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge has been encouraging colleges and universities since 2016 to make plans and to take action to increase nonpartisan student civic learning, political engagement, and – especially – voter participation. Over 600 campuses have risen to this challenge and institutional voting rates for colleges and universities have increased exponentially between elections.
The All IN Campus Democracy Challenge is a national awards program. By recognizing colleges and universities for their commitment to increasing student voting rates, the Challenge encourages higher education institutions to help students form the habits of active and informed citizenship, make democratic participation a core value on their campus, and cultivate generations of engaged citizens who are essential to a healthy democracy.
What is the Big 10 Challenge?
Initiated 2017 by The Edward Ginsberg Center at the University of Michigan, to spark student interest in civic and democratic engagement, the Big 10 Challenge has two goals, engage more students in the civic education and increase the number of college students who participate in the democracy through voter registration and voter turn-out. Winning the challenge will be determined by:
- The campus with the greatest overall turnout in 2020, and
- The campus with the greatest growth in turnout from 2016 to 2020
How is Illinois doing in the Big 10 Challenge?
Check out the Big 10 Status Report (pdf).
At the 2019 ALL IN Challenge Awards Ceremony held to recognize colleges and universities committed to increasing college student voting rates, the University of Illinois received a gold seal for achieving a student rate between 40% and 49%.
Illinois had a 41.9% reported voter rate for 2018. This is the rate of eligible student voters and those who actually voted.
National student voter rate is 39.1%
