UMaine earns national recognition for college student voter engagement
The University of Maine has been named a 2024 ALL IN Most Engaged Campus for College Student Voting, recognizing the university’s effort to increase nonpartisan student voter participation.
UMaine is one of 471 colleges and universities recognized by ALL IN for joining the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge. As part of this effort, the university was responsible for sharing campus voting data from the 2022 National Study of Learning, Voting and Engagement reports; and developing and submitting a 2024 democratic engagement action plan.
“The research is clear: colleges and universities that make intentional efforts to increase nonpartisan democratic engagement have higher campus voter registration and voter turnout rates,” said Jennifer Domagal-Goldman, executive director of the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge.
UMaine UVote, a partnership between the UMaine Department of Political Science and the Office of Student Life, led efforts to bolster engagement from college student voters. From 2016 to 2020, the program contributed to a 10.8% increase in voter turnout among UMaine students. In 2020, over 85% of students on campus were registered to vote, and nearly 73% participated in the election.
In addition to fostering the ALL IN recognition and encouraging students to visit the ballot box, UMaine UVote recruited over 40 student volunteers to assist the town of Orono in administering the 2024 election.
“We know that the political habits we develop in young adulthood tend to follow us for the rest of our lives,” said Robert Glover, associate professor of political science and honors, and co-coordinator of the program. “So the fact that so many students are not only turning out to vote, but helping run the elections, is an important and positive trend that we hope to build upon in the years to come.”