Rice University has been recognized by the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge as a 2024 ALL IN Most Engaged Campus for College Student Voting. The honor recognizes colleges and universities for outstanding efforts to increase nonpartisan student voter participation.
“This success is due to collaborative efforts across the university,” said Verónica L. Reyna, associate director of Houston Civic Projects in the Center for Civic Leadership. “Rice Votes and Fondren Library’s Kelley Center for Government Information provided consistent opportunities for registration and education that started in July with registering students in prematriculation programs. Public Affairs and the President’s Office also supported voter mobilization efforts with flyers, media and communications and direct encouragement to students to register and vote. The stars though are the volunteers from Rice — students, staff and faculty — and community organizations who offered their time to register students, answer their questions and organize the block party and election watch party. They help make voting a part of the engaged culture of Rice.”
Rice joins a group of 471 colleges and universities recognized by ALL IN for completing four core actions:
- Participating in the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge
- Sharing 2022 National Study of Learning, Voting and Engagement reports of campus voting data with ALL IN
- Developing and submitting a 2024 democratic engagement action plan with ALL IN
- Having a current signatory to ALL IN’s Higher Education Presidents’ Commitment to Full Student Voter Participation
To promote civic engagement, Rice ran a campaign to raise awareness about how to register to vote as well as registration deadlines.
Information about voter registration, deadlines and frequently asked questions were communicated via emails and on a dedicated voting webpage. Nonpartisan information about the people and issues on the ballot were made available to the Rice community via the Baker Institute of Public Policy.
In the lead-up to the election, the Center for Civic Leadership set up multiple locations across campus to encourage voter registration. The campaign resulted in nearly 900 people who registered to vote, including more than 140 who registered on the last day. Both are record numbers since 1999.
The campus provided transportation services to its closest early voting station as well as hosted a polling location on Election Day. Rice also paused classes on Election Day and allowed employees flexible hours to ensure eligible voters had access to the polls. More than 1,000 votes were cast at the Rice voting location on Election Day.
“The research is clear: Colleges and universities that make intentional efforts to increase nonpartisan democratic engagement have higher campus voter registration and voter turnout rates,” said Jennifer Domagal-Goldman, executive director of the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge. “This year we saw more colleges than ever before step up their efforts to ensure that their students were registered and ready to make their voices heard at the ballot box. These Most Engaged Campuses are setting the standard for nonpartisan civic engagement work for colleges and universities across the country.”
The ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge empowers colleges and universities to achieve excellence in nonpartisan student democratic engagement. Campuses that join the challenge complete a set of action items with the support of ALL IN staff to institutionalize nonpartisan civic learning and voter participation on their campus. The challenge currently engages 10.8 million students from more than 1,075 institutions in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
To find out more about the Center for Civic Leadership’s services, visit ccl.rice.edu.