As the United States enters the next election cycle, efforts continue to get young people to the polls. Webster University is among nationwide educational institutions who are being recognized for energizing young voters.
The university won three awards at a ceremony at the Newseum in Washington D.C. this week for registering more than half of its students as voters, and getting most of them to the polls on election day in 2018.
Webster was recognized with two Best in Class awards for having the highest voting rate and the highest undergraduate voting rate at a large, private, four-year institution, and the Platinum SEAL award for excellence in student voter engagement.
The awards were a result of Webster’s 2018 participation in the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge, a nationwide initiative that recognizes and supports college campuses as they work to increase nonpartisan democratic engagement and promote full student voter participation.
The combined percentage of young adults and college students who voted in the 2014 midterm elections was about 39%. In 2016, the ALL IN Challenge, as part of Civic Engagements U.S., started out on a mission to improve civic learning and increase the voting rates and political engagement of college students across the nation. More than 200 schools joined the mission during its first year. Today, there are more than 560 participating institutions, spanning 48 states and Washington D.C, and including more than 6 million students.
At Webster University, the voting rate among students for the 2018 midterm elections was 54.7% — more than a 20% increase from 2014.
To learn more about the ALL IN CHALLENGE, visit allinchallenge.org.
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