Currently: 54°F
For its student voter participation in the 2020 election, Millersville University was recently honored with a gold seal by the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge, a national awards program that celebrates nonpartisan voter participation efforts.
The program recognizes schools that raise student voting rates and encourages democratic participation across college campuses.
“The ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge is a way for institutions of higher education to motivate their students to be a part of the election process, inspire them to engage in politics, and help them learn about civic engagement,” says Lori Leaman, assistant to the associate provost and dean of student success at the University.
“This challenge has the purpose of capturing the students and helping them become lifelong participants in our democratic process in the United States,” she continues.
Civic and Community Engagement at Millersville University provides voting resources and plenty of policy-focused opportunities and events for students in any major. Additionally, it provides opportunities for civic engagement and has been nationally recognized multiple times.
“During elections, our Civic and Engagement Center is open for students to come and get information about their polling center location, voter ID requirements and cut-off dates for mail-in and absentee voting,” Leaman says.
“Before election day, we had flyers with dates reminding the students about deadlines for voter registration and poll center changes, the date of the election, and QR codes where they were encouraged to find the location of their respective polling sites.”
The center is also looking ahead as they prepare for the spring semester. With the help of the center’s Civic Fellows, they hope to organize a town hall meeting and debate this semester to inform students about the most important issues for the upcoming election.
Additionally, the center also hosts “Congress to Campus,” where they invite past members of Congress to the University. This gives students the opportunity to converse with the former members about their roles in Congress and important issues facing the United States today.
Interested in learning more about the University’s efforts to encourage voting and civic engagement? Visit https://www.millersville.edu/ccerp/cps/index.php for news and updates, or reach out to community.engagement@millersville.edu with any questions.
