GCSU awarded silver seal for high number of voting students

J ust in time for National Voter Registration Day, Sept. 17, comes news about Georgia College & State University's student voting rate. It is 5% higher than the national average, earning the university a Silver Seal distinction from the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge.

"Georgia College has a historic student voting registration and voting rate to be proud of, and I'm confident we will continue that tradition," said Dr. Janet Hoffmann, campus coordinator for the American Democracy Project, a nonpartisan group that encourages students become actively engaged in democracy and civil discourse.

The voting-rate percentage ties directly to the number of registered college students who actually cast votes on election day.

The Silver Seal is for campuses with a 30 to 39% participation rate during the 2022 midterms. That year, 36% Georgia College students voted, compared to the national average of 31%. Statistics are from the National Study of Learning, Voting and Engagement report released by Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts.

Georgia College is one of more than 520 campuses participating in ALL IN's nonpartisan democratic efforts to encourage students to register and vote.

The ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge began in 2016 as part of an initiative by Civic Nation to recognize student voting engagement and campuses with programs of excellence. Georgia College won its first ALL IN Bronze Seal that year for a student voting rate between 50 and 59%.

The university won a Gold Seal for its 2018 midterm election rate and another Gold Seal when nearly 77% of its students voted in the 2020 presidential election. Georgia College also won "Best in the Nation" in its class of public universities for registering 94.7% of its student to vote that year.

These higher numbers dropped in 2022 across the board. Nationally, student voting rates decreased by about 40% compared to midterms in 2018, NSLVE reported.

"Typically, voter rates in midterm elections are significantly lower than presidential election years," Hoffman said, "and that was the case in 2022."

More than 8 million young adults are newly eligible to vote in 2024, according to ALL IN.

Axel Hawkins During Georgia College's annual Constitution Week, engaged students from the American Democracy Project and other political organizations like College Republicans and Young Democrats will be at tables on campus encouraging peers to register, find their polling places and turnout to vote.

Senior history major Axel Hawkins of McDonough, Georgia, is one of them.

In April, Hawkins was recognized on the nationwide ALL IN's Student Voting Honor Roll for going "above and beyond to advance nonpartisan student voter registration, education and turnout efforts in their communities."

She is also president of the Georgia College's Student Government Association.

"I was so glad to see GCSU was recognized by ALL IN for our high levels of voting in the midterms," Hawkins said, "which is much more difficult to achieve than in a presidential election year. It just goes to show how our liberal arts curriculum and community-oriented focus makes a more informed and socially responsible student body."

"This year," she added, "I'm focusing on making sure our students are fully informed about their rights in an election and know just how important it is to exercise those rights to create the type of future they want to see."

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