Illinois State Earns Recognition for Most Engaged Campus for Student Voting in 2024
Illinois State's voter initiatives engaged 1,400 students through TurboVote tools.
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This year's ALL IN Most Engaged Campus for College Student Voting award goes to Illinois State University.
The award, from the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge, honors colleges and universities that lead in nonpartisan efforts to increase student voter participation. This year, 471 institutions throughout the country were designated an ALL IN Most Engaged Campus, indicating a strong commitment to civic engagement and community involvement.
According to Illinois State, ISU President Aondover Tarhule acknowledged that voter engagement was at the core of what ISU represented. He credits the Center for Civic Engagement and other campus units that helped to create an action plan leading to record turnout. More than 3,500 people voted early in McLean County at ISU's Bone Student Center. On Election Day, 3,233 did likewise. These figures indicate the highest ever turnout since the opening of the polling station, with all registered voters being accommodated.
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Leading initiatives by the CCE and Associate Director Paige Buschman, ISU's work includes voter registration support, ballot education, and programs raising awareness about the vote process. The university uses TurboVote, a straightforward tool to register to vote, engaging nearly 1,400 students from July to November. This shared work also earned ISU its Highly Established Action Plan Seal as part of ALL IN campuses across the year so far.
Dr. Katy Strzepek, the CCE director, expressed appreciation to the Voter Engagement Coalition and many volunteers for their commitment to educating students. Their efforts made ISU a leader in nonpartisan democratic engagement. Jennifer Domagal-Goldman, executive director of the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge, said that institutions like ISU set the bar for developing student voter participation around the country.
The ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge engages over 1,075 colleges and universities to collectively enroll 10.8 million students across all 50 states and Washington, D.C. ISU still continues to intentionally engage more students to be active players in democracy.
