Student voting rates increased over 300% from the 2014 to the 2018 midterm elections at Indiana University thanks to a friendly competition called the Big Ten Voting Challenge. The Political and Civic Engagement group at IU, or PACE, joined in when the challenge was launched in 2017 to help increase the number of student voters on campus.
“A little more than 35% of eligible IU Bloomington students voted in the November 2018 midterm election. That’s up from 8.7% in the 2014 midterm, an increase of 26.3 percentage points. Nationwide, student voting at all colleges and universities increased by 19.7 percentage points between 2014 and 2018.” –IU Bloomington News
The 14 conference schools are competing to see which school has the greatest overall turnout and which school has the greatest increase in voting rates. According to Josephine McCormick, the student ambassador for the challenge, the winning school receives a cash prize as well as a party or celebration.
Between the 2014 and the 2018 election, Rutgers won the category of the greatest growth in student voter turnout, and Minnesota led the conference with the greatest overall turnout of student voters.
The challenge aims to help students understand if they are apprehensive or uncertain going into the election, you are not alone. Some so many students have never voted before, but the Big Ten Voting Challenge is a way to encourage students to register to vote and help inspire others to register as well.
For more information on the Big Ten Voting Challenge, how to register to vote online, when elections are, etc., head to the Big Ten Voting Challenge’s website here.
