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Dalton State Named Golden Campus After Student Voting Rate Challenge
11/25/19
Dalton State is golden!
Dalton State received a gold seal for achieving a student voting rate between 40 percent and 49 percent during a ceremony honoring collegiate voting engagement. The 2019 ALL IN Challenge awards ceremony recognized colleges and universities committed to increasing college student voting rates.
This achievement commends Dalton State’s campus for actively commissioning students who engage in voting.
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 campus.
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 and Higher Education, voter turnout at the more than 1,000 institutions participating in the study increased by 21 points. Dalton State’s data reveals a 2018 voting rate of 46.8 percent, which is a 28.9 percent increase from 2014.
“Dalton State is proud to receive this national recognition for our efforts,” said Dr. Jodi Johnson, vice president for Student Affairs and Enrollment. “Our faculty, staff and students are committed to working together to carry out the Dalton State vision to cultivate leaders who proudly serve and improve our community and our world. Our values challenge us to create a campus culture of service, engagement and collaboration to advance the welfare of Northwest Georgia and beyond. The organized effort to increase student voter participation is an organic outcome of living our mission, vision and values.”
Heather Williams credits Students Advocating for Volunteer Efforts (SAVE), a student organization dedicated to creating and hosting programs designed to identify and address social issues locally, with taking the initiative to make all of this possible.
“We credit the increased voter engagement and turnout to the efforts of the members of SAVE who have spent lots of time, energy and passion to develop and implement strategic programming to raising awareness about upcoming elections and educating others on what they can expect on the ballots,” Williams said.”
For more information on ALL IN and the 2019 Challenge, you can visit their website here.