SUNY Plattsburgh Recognized for Engaged Student Voting

SUNY Plattsburgh was cited by ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge for being among 471 colleges and universities nationwide for having the most engaged student voting.

ALL IN is a national awards program that recognizes commitment to increasing student voting rates among college campuses. The “Most Engaged Campuses for College Student Voting” recognizes colleges and universities making intentional efforts to increase nonpartisan democratic engagement and college student voting, according to ALL IN.

To achieve most-engaged status, colleges and universities had to meet the following criteria:

• Participate in the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge
• Share 2022 National Study of Learning, Voting and Engagement (NSLVE) Reports with campus voting data with ALL IN
• Develop and submit a 2024 nonpartisan democratic engagement action plan with ALL IN by Oct. 1, 2024
• Have a current signatory to ALL IN’s Higher Education Presidents’ Commitment to Full Student Voter Participation

“The ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge is one of the many initiatives that currently exist to promote democratic engagement on college campuses so that our students graduate with the skills, knowledge and values necessary to be informed citizens and regular participants in American democracy — by voting regularly and otherwise participating in civic life,” said Dr. Daniel Lake, associate professor of political science and director of the Institute for Ethics in Public Life at SUNY Plattsburgh.

“The designation of SUNY Plattsburgh as a ‘Most Engaged Campus for Student Voting by ALL IN’ on Nov. 18 was in response” to having met all the criteria, Lake said.

In September, SUNY Plattsburgh received the Bronze Seal from ALL IN “in recognition of the student voting rate during the 2022 midterm elections,” Lake said. “It reflected our ongoing participation in the All IN CDC and the provision of our National Study of Learning, Voting and Engagement report for 2022 to ALL IN, which we did last semester.”

With ALL IN’s focus being student voting, Lake said they achieved this by “trying to register all eligible students, helping them become informed about the process of voting and what they are voting on, and encouraging and assisting all of them to exercise their franchise and vote,” he said.

Mini-grant Recipient

This work was done by student interns who where compensated by a $3,000 mini-grant.

Last spring, SUNY Chancellor John King announced that SUNY Plattsburgh was one of 23 ALL IN Challenge campuses to receive mini-grants thanks to support from the Ibis Group to bolster nonpartisan student voter outreach efforts, increasing civic education, civil discourse, and civic awareness and participation across SUNY campuses.

The grant was also used to develop marketing materials for Plattsburgh Votes, the campus voter registration and turnout effort, Lake said.

Interns also “visited classes and tabled on campus in the Angell College Center, Feinberg Library and residence halls to help students register to vote, request absentee ballots, and to learn where to get non-partisan voter information,” Lake said.

‘A Crucible Moment’ as Inspiration

Lake said the efforts of organizations like ALL IN “were inspired by the 2012 report of the National Task Force on Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement, ‘A Crucible Moment,’ a call to action — in particular to reclaim higher education’s civic mission.

“One of the main purposes for the creation of public higher education in the United States was the creation of an educated citizenry that was engaged in the democratic process and had the skills required to satisfy the obligations of democratic citizenry. This includes various aspects such as civic learning, democratic engagement and involvement in the community through community service,” Lake said.

For more information on ALL IN at SUNY Plattsburgh, contact Lake at 518-564-5833 or email [email protected].

— By Associate Director of Communications Gerianne Downs