Rider receives award for increasing student voter engagement

Rider University received a silver seal at the 2019 ALL IN Challenge Awards Ceremony for achieving a student voting rate between 30% and 39%. The ceremony was held to recognize colleges and universities committed to increasing college student voting rates.

Director of Service and & Civic Engagement Joan Liptrot and senior political science major Allison Anderson, who serves on the All In Advisory Board, represented Rider at the ceremony on Tuesday, Nov. 12, in Washington, D.C.

“It is imperative that we continue to work together to increase student engagement and prepare civic-minded Rider graduates who are equipped to lead in our diverse and complex world. These efforts to engage students in voting is one important step,” says Vice President for Student Affairs Leanna Fenneberg.

Student participation in 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% to 40%. Rider data reveals that student voting on its campus was up in last year’s election, increasing to 38.3%.

"This report confirms an increase in student voting in the last two major elections that I believe can be attributed to the collaborative and creative efforts of Rider students, staff, and faculty," Liptrot says. "I look forward to continuing this trend during the 2020 presidential elections by expanding and enhancing our efforts."

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.

“We are excited to honor Rider with an ALL IN Challenge silver seal in recognition of their intentional efforts to increase democratic engagement and full voter participation,” says Jennifer Domagal-Goldman, executive director of the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge. “More institutions like Rider are changing culture on campus by institutionalizing nonpartisan democratic engagement efforts that are resulting in the incredible student voter turnout rates that we’ve seen across the country.”