Campus community works to increase student voter turnout
Inver Hills Community College joined 394 colleges and universities in earning the inaugural ALL IN Most Engaged Campus for College Student Voting recognition, which honors the intentional work the campus community accomplished in 2022 to institutionalize nonpartisan democratic engagement to increase student voter turnout. Along with 183 other institutions, Inver Hills also participated in the Ask Every Student initiative.
Inver Hills earned the recognition by completing the following four actions:
- Participate in the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge
- Shared 2020 NSLVE Reports with campus voting data with ALL IN
- Developed and submitted a 2022 democratic engagement action plan with ALL IN
- Have a current signatory to ALL IN’s Higher Education Presidents’ Commitment to Full Student Voter Participation
Shannon Williams serves as the community-based learning coordinator at Inver Hills. Shannon reported that one of the requirements for receiving the Most Engaged designation is submitting a campus civic action plan.
“Our campus was invigorated by the recent recognition of having the highest student voting rate of any community college in the country in the 2020 election,” she said. “That boost inspired us to organize, review data of past years’ student voting rates, set goals, and create an ambitious plan for the fall semester.”
Shannon added that Inver would also not be recognized as an engaged campus without the support of Michael Berndt, the college’s president.
“I’m so thankful for his leadership and commitment to civic learning as part of our students’ experience at Inver Hills,” Shannon said. “We will not know if we met our voter registration and turnout goals until fall 2023, when the results of the National Survey of Learning, Voting, and Engagement will be released.”
Voting coalition faculty and staff members
- Kimberly Swinney
- Amy Zsohar
- Erica Wood
- Sadie Pendaz-Foster
- Zach Sullivan
- Rae Dillon
- Alicia Atwater
- Jeremy Clark
- Rachel Roberson
- Rachel Marzahn
- Elsbeth Howe
Student voting ambassadors
- Jason Cooke
- Cheyenne Gilbert
- Debbie Wallen
- Joe Anderson
- Brooke Craig
- Ayan Mohammed
Students offering additional help
- Karina Villeda
- Laura Perez Zamarron
- Samantha Terry
Student Life director perspective: Kimberly Swinney
“I am proud of the work our voter coalition, Shannon Williams, and especially our student voting ambassadors did to increase awareness, education, and engagement during the election cycle. Our campus community showed a commitment to voter engagement and made a statement that they are invested and care about the people representing them.”
Kimberly Swinney
Student Life Director
Inver Hills Community College
Message from ALL In Executive Director Jennifer Domagal-Goldman
“College student voter turnout has increased since 2016, and this increase has been driven by students. The ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge is excited to expand our ALL IN Student Voting Honor Roll to recognize these student voting champions across the country,” said Jennifer Domagal-Goldman, executive director of the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge. “These students registered voters, served on their campus voting coalitions, spearheaded voter education efforts, advocated for campus polling locations and organized other voter engagement efforts to ensure their peers were confident and informed voters. We are excited to see what they continue to accomplish ahead of the 2022 midterms.”
The ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge empowers colleges and universities to achieve excellence in nonpartisan student democratic engagement. Campuses that join the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge complete a set of action items, with the support of ALL IN Challenge staff, to institutionalize nonpartisan civic learning, political engagement, and voter participation on their campus.
The ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge currently engages more than 9 million students from more than 950 institutions in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Campuses can join the ALL IN Challenge at Join ALL IN.
More about the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge
The ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge (ALL IN) is a national nonpartisan initiative of Civic Nation, a 501(c)(3) organization. The ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge strives to change civic culture and institutionalize democratic engagement activities and programs on college campuses, making voter participation a defining feature of campus life.
ALL IN, in collaboration with more than 960 higher education institutions, seeks to:
- Make participation in local, state, and federal elections a social norm
- Substantially increase the number of college students who are democratically engaged on an ongoing basis, during and between elections, and not just at the polls
- Make educating for democratic engagement on college campuses an accepted and expected part of the culture and curriculum so that students graduate with the knowledge, skills, behaviors, and values needed to be an informed and active citizen
Learn more about college student voting at Inver Hills by contacting:
Shannon Williams
Community-Based Learning Coordinator
Center for Career Development & Community-Based Learning
Inver Hills Community College
651-450-3244
Kimberly Swinney
Director of Student Life
Inver Hills Community College
651-450-3544
