At the 2019 ALL IN Challenge Awards Ceremony, A&M-Central Texas received a gold seal for achieving a student voting rate of 45.8% in the 2018 mid-term elections. The event, organized to recognize colleges and universities throughout the U.S. committed to increasing college student voting rates, was the highlight of a national conference.

Dr. Brandon Griggs, Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs lauded the University’s accomplishment, thanking student affairs staff, students, and faculty who contributed to the recognition.

“Our institution is proud to receive this national recognition for our efforts. Our faculty, staff, administrators, and students are committed to working together to reduce apathy, increase engagement, and graduate civic-minded students prepared to solve the country’s most pressing challenges.”

According to a national report, 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 & Higher Education, voter turnout at the more than 1,000 institutions participating in the study increased by 21 points from 19% to 40%. The data for A&M-Central Texas reveals an even higher percentage of students reporting that they participated in the election process.

“We are excited to honor A&M-Central Texas with an ALL IN Challenge gold 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 A&M-Central Texas 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.