Mercyhurst earns national kudos for efforts to increase student voting

National Voter Registration Day table

For its efforts to increase nonpartisan student voter participation in the 2024 election, Mercyhurst University has been recognized by the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge.

The challenge encourages higher education institutions to help students form habits of active and informed citizenship, make democratic participation a core value on campus, and cultivate generations of engaged citizens.

Mercyhurst joins a group of 471 colleges and universities recognized by ALL IN for completing the criteria outlined in the challenge. Bethany Woods, director of Academic Community Engagement, who spearheaded the challenge at Mercyhurst, outlined the following activities on campus:

  • Celebrated National Voter Registration Day on Sept. 17, tabling at seven locations across campus and utilizing 42 volunteers who helped promote voter registration.
  • Tabled outside Grotto Commons and Ryan Hall to encourage voter registration and provide nonpartisan information websites on Tuesdays from Sept. 24-Oct. 15.
  • Submitted a 2024 Action Plan to ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge, the purpose of which was to increase nonpartisan democratic engagement and student voter registration, education, and turnout in the 2024 election.
  • Provided transportation to our local polling site on Tuesday, Nov. 5.
  • Finally, President Kathleen A. Getz, Ph.D., signed the ALL IN Higher Education President’s Commitment to Full Student Voter Participation and authorized the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE), the nation’s largest study of college and university student voting, to receive our campus voting data in support of nonpartisan democratic engagement efforts.

“I believe this is an important accomplishment because civic engagement is paramount in a democratic society, so encouraging the campus community to exercise their right to vote empowers individuals to actively participate in shaping the civic life of their communities,” Woods said. “Our mission calls us to exercise leadership in service toward a just world, and participation in our democracy is one tangible way our community can do that.”