For the 10th time in the past eight years, A&M-Central Texas has been recognized for its activities encouraging student voter participation – most recently by the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge (ALL IN) as a 2024 ALL IN Most Engaged Campus for College Student Voting. The ALL IN Most Engaged Campuses for College Student Voting recognizes colleges and universities for outstanding efforts to increase nonpartisan student voter participation. With this newest recognition, A&M-Central Texas joins 471 colleges and universities recognized by ALL IN for encouraging non-partisan voting and election participation.
Paul York, Ph.D., associate dean for student affairs, has taken the point role for the project over the years, and takes a great deal of professional pride in the results.
“Some people think of university students’ participation in elections as insignificant because in a lot of places, the number of college and university students who turn out to vote remain very small compared to the larger populations. That just is not the case here at A&M-Central Texas. This award and the previous awards prove that our students are very engaged in election activity, and we could not be more proud to be a part of that effort.”
Jennifer Domagul-Goldman, executive director of the ALLIN Campus Democracy Challenge agrees, adding that colleges and universities that make intentional efforts to increase nonpartisan democratic engagement have higher campus voter registration and voter turnout rates.
“This year we saw more colleges than ever before step up their efforts to ensure that their students were registered and ready to make their voices heard at the ballot box,” she said, adding that the award winning colleges and universities are setting the standard for nonpartisan civic engagement work for colleges and universities across the country.”
York applauded the efforts of the university student government association, university leadership, and the students themselves who prioritize their participation in elections, adding that they prioritized voter registration drives, shared examples of ballot initiatives, and sent out election reminders to students.
“It is an important reflection of the Central Texas community and how much we care about our shared obligation to participate in elections,” he said, adding that he was extremely proud of both the efforts and the results.
“Given that there are thousands of colleges and universities across the country, being numbered among the ones that are encouraging nonpartisan voting activities continues to be one of the highlights of our university and its commitment to our region, our state, and our country.”