MGA Receives Gold Seal for Excellence in Student Voter Engagement

Author: News Bureau
Posted: Tuesday, November 12, 2019 12:00 AM
Categories: Honors/Awards | Pressroom | Students | Faculty/Staff | School of Education and Behavioral Sciences

Macon, GA

Placeholder

Middle Georgia State University (MGA) received a gold seal at the 2019 ALL IN Challenge Awards ceremony, held to recognize colleges and universities committed to increasing student voting rates.

MGA received a gold seal for achieving a student rate between 40 percent and 49 percent. A full list of seal awardees can be viewed here.

 In 2018, MGA received a bronze seal for its student voting rates.  

 “Middle Georgia State is proud to again receive national recognition for our efforts to engage faculty, staff, and students in the democratic process,” said Dr. Christopher Lawrence, chair of the Department of Political Science and a member of MGA’s ALL IN Challenge steering committee. “We’re committed to continuing to work together to promote civic awareness, reduce apathy, increase engagement, and produce college graduates equipped to help solve the challenges facing the communities we serve.”

Overall student participation in U.S. 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 percent to 40 percent.

 MGA’s data reveals that:

  •  48 percent of its students voted in 2018, a 25 point increase from the 2014 midterm and gubernatorial election.
  • Over 80 percent of its students are now registered to vote, an increase of nearly 15 points since 2014, and 48 percent of students voted in the 2018 midterms, 9 points ahead of the national average.
  • 48 percent of students voted in 2018 midterm and gubernatorial election, maintaining the same turnout rate among our students seen in the 2016 presidential election.

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.