BGSU among nation’s ‘most engaged’ campuses for efforts to increase student voting in the 2022 election

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – Bowling Green State University is among the nation’s most engaged universities for college student voting for its efforts to increase student voter participation and nonpartisan democratic engagement in the 2022 election.

The University was recently recognized as a 2022 ALL IN Most Engaged Campus for College Student Voting for boosting participation in the recent midterm elections.

BGSU is one of only six public, four-year universities in Ohio and 394 colleges and universities nationwide to receive the inaugural honor from the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge. 

The Most Engaged Campus for College Student Voting program is part of ALL IN’s mission to advance voting efforts on college and university campuses across the country. It recognizes participating institutions that work to increase nonpartisan student voter registration, education and turnout and ensure equitable access to the polls for their campus community.

Youth voter turnout across the country reached its second-highest rate for midterm elections in more than 30 years, with young voters deciding outcomes in several key races, according to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning & Engagement (CIRCLE), a non-partisan, independent research organization focused on youth civic engagement in the United States.

BGSU also is one of 184 campuses nationwide that participate in the Ask Every Student initiative - a national effort that facilitates collaboration between campus leaders and nonprofit partners to help campuses ask every student to participate in the democratic process and achieve full student voter registration.

BGSU committed to achieving 100% student voter registration and participation in the 2022 election and beyond by joining the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge Presidents’ Commitment.

As a part of that pledge, BGSU developed and implemented a data-driven action plan to improve civic learning, political engagement and voter participation. A campuswide working group with members from Academic Affairs, Student Affairs, the student body and other campus partners led the efforts.

The group focused on six key areas: voter registration, voter education and skill development, getting out the vote, removing barriers to voting, civic engagement and political participation and reaching more diverse student populations.

BGSU has participated in the ALL IN challenge since it began in 2016 as a nationwide effort to increase student voter participation on college campuses.