ALL IN recognizes UIC’s efforts to increase student voter participation
Civic and community engagement are deep-rooted values at the University of Illinois Chicago. Those principles were on full display leading up to the 2024 election.
UIC’s comprehensive, nonpartisan efforts to support and increase student voter participation were recently honored by the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge, which designated UIC as a 2024 ALL IN Most Engaged Campus for College Student Voting.
The university joins 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 featuring 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
Student Leadership and Civic Engagement offered students various resources and programs to use their right to vote and make their voices heard.
UIC also earned ALL IN’s Highly Established Action Plan Seal of recognition, which honors higher education institutions for creating strong action plans that promote civic learning, political engagement and college student voter participation. Working with campus and community partners, UIC’s action plan focused on voter education, registration and turnout.
Outreach included introducing TurboVote for students to register or check their voter registration status, providing nonpartisan voting guides, hosting an Early Voting Day promotion with the Students Learn Students Vote Coalition, presenting a dialogue series with the Institute for Policy and Civic Engagement and promoting UIC as an early-voting site for anyone who permanently lives in the City of Chicago.
“We wanted to make sure they know their resources, where they can find the nonpartisan resources, get involved and get educated,” said Parrama Chouhan, a graduate assistant with Student Leadership and Civic Engagement who helped organize the civic engagement planning, marketing and events. “UIC being an early-voting site was something students were also excited to learn about when we were out in the Quad.”
A nonpartisan website for voter and election information, a social media and email campaign and debate watch parties were also among the efforts on campus.
A central goal of UIC’s education and engagement programs is to support students in becoming lifelong active citizens.
Arman Raghian, a service leader for the Office of Student Leadership and Civic Engagement and a fourth-year Honors College student majoring in biomedical engineering, helped with voter registration on campus and recommended students take advantage of the office’s programs.
“It’s easy for UIC students to get involved if they’re interested. The office is always looking for volunteers,” Raghian said. “I love service, and it’s a big aspect of my student experience, so that’s why I’m a service leader.”
ALL IN, an initiative of the nonpartisan nonprofit Civic Nation, is a nationwide effort to promote active and informed citizenship on college and university campuses.
“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. 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,” said Jennifer Domagal-Goldman, executive director of the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge. “These Most Engaged Campuses are setting the standard for nonpartisan civic engagement work for colleges and universities across the country.”
