We are pleased to report that student voting across the university increased significantly in last year’s presidential election, rising to 77.2% in 2020 from a rate of 72.0% in 2016 (61.6% in 2018 – a non-presdiential election year). We extend our thanks to students on all of our campuses who demonstrated good citizenry by exercising their right to vote. We especially thank Clare Bath, President of the College Democrats, and Jonathon Krull, President of the College Republicans, who led bipartisan voter registration efforts on the Winona campus, for which they received state-wide recognition and publicity. Interestingly, 88.8% of our students who were registered to vote did actually vote.
By way of comparison, the 2020 voting rate across all institutions of higher education was 66%. The 2020 voting rate for private institutions of higher education with Ph.D. programs was 70%.
The university’s voting report comes from the Institute for Democracy & Higher Education (IDHE), creators of the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement, or NSLVE. IDHE is located at Tufts University’s Tisch College of Civic Life.
Nationwide, the study’s authors report a record-breaking set of findings. On campuses across the country, students built on the momentum swing of 2018 and voted at high rates in the 2020 election, with voter turnout jumping to 66% in last year’s presidential election. The 14 percentage point increase, from 52% turnout in the 2016 election, outpaces that of all Americans, which jumped 6 percentage points from 61% to 67%, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Congratulations to our students!
