Record number of UMaine student voters in 2020 earn national attention
University of Maine students were among undergraduates and graduate students nationwide registered to vote and casting ballots in record numbers in the 2020 election, according to a new report from the Institute for Democracy & Higher Education at Tufts University.
At UMaine, student voting on campus increased significantly to 72.9% in 2020, up more than 10 percentage points from 2016, according to the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement. And again that year, turnout by registered UMaine student voters topped the 2020 voting rate of 66% on college campuses nationwide.
“These increases speak to the strength of the nonpartisan peer organizing model we have built here on campus over the last few election cycles,” says Rob Glover, a UMaine associate professor of political science and honors.
Glover and assistant director for community life Jenny Desmond were instrumental in initiating the UMaine UVote Student Ambassadors, supported by an external grant from the Students Learn Students Vote Coalition. Ambassadors engaged in nonpartisan voter registration, education and turnout last year.
“Our students really demonstrated what it means to be engaged Black Bears by learning how to teach others about the civic process and become an informed citizen,” Desmond says. “We couldn’t have done this important work without their partnership, creativity and enthusiasm.”
In addition, UMaine earned a Highest Voter Turnout Award from the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge for nonpartisan student voter participation efforts in the 2020 election. ALL IN is a national, nonpartisan initiative that strives for a more inclusive democracy in which all voices are heard. The award will be presented Nov. 10 as part of the America East Votes Athletic Challenges Awards Ceremony.
According to the Institute for Democracy & Higher Education, voter turnout by students on 1,200 campuses across the country was up 14 percentage points from the 52% voting rate of registered students in the 2016 election. That increase outpaces the voter turnout of all Americans, which jumped 6 percentage points from 61% to 67% in the two elections, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement is the nation’s largest study of college and university student voting. Institutions opt-in to the study and at this time, including community colleges, research universities, minority-serving and women’s colleges, state universities and private institutions. The dataset reflects all 50 states and the District of Columbia, and includes 49 of the nation’s 50 flagship schools. The 2020 dataset represents more than 8.88 million voting-eligible students representing 1,051 colleges and universities.