This article appears for archival purposes. Any events, programs and/or initiatives mentioned may no longer be applicable.
At the 2019 ALL IN Challenge Awards Ceremony held Nov. 12, 2019 to recognize colleges and universities committed to increasing college student voting rates, Scottsdale Community College (SCC) received a silver seal for achieving a student rate between 30% and 39%. A full list of seal awardees can be viewed here.
SCC today reported that student voting on its campus was up in last year’s election, increasing to 39.1% in 2018 from a rate of 15.8% in 2014, an overall 23.3% increase. In addition, the voting rate of students registered to vote was up 32.2% in 2018, increasing from 26.3% in 2014 to 58.5% in 2018.
“This increase demonstrates the commitment SCC has made to expanding the awareness of the importance of civic engagement,” said Therese Tendick, Director of the Center for Civic & Global Engagement at SCC. “We’ve accomplished this by having our Council of Student Leaders host ‘SCC Votes!’ voter registration campaigns, hosting panels related to local election issues, and getting our students involved in meaningful community service. In 2017, SCC received the award from the ALL IN Democracy Challenge for Most Improved Voting Rate among two-year institutions.”
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%.
“We are excited to honor Scottsdale Community College with an ALL IN Challenge silver seal in recognition of their intentional efforts to increase democratic engagement and full voter participation,” said Jennifer Domagal-Goldman, executive director of the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge. “More institutions like SCC 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.”
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.
SCC’s Center for Civic & Global Engagement creates quality programs and services that provide students and employees with curricular and co-curricular opportunities that increase civic engagement and enhance global awareness. The Center provides these resources to help students become engaged citizens, global learners and more involved in campus activities.