Staff Writer
August 10, 2024

On Wednesday, Pennsylvania’s Secretary of the Commonwealth, Al Schmidt, teamed up with college presidents from across the state to kick off the 2024 Pennsylvania Campus Voting Challenge. This nonpartisan initiative is a collaborative effort between the Pennsylvania Department of State and the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge (ALL IN), a program dedicated to amplifying student civic engagement on a national scale.

The PA Campus Voting Challenge provides support and recognition to more than 75 participating Pennsylvania colleges and universities, which collectively enroll more than 480,000 students. The Challenge offers awards for institutions with the highest voter turnout, most improved voter turnout, and highest voter registration among eligible students. Pennsylvania led the nation in 2022, when 37 of the state’s institutions were listed as “Most Engaged” campuses by ALL IN.

“Voting is the most fundamental right in our representative democracy, and college educators and administrators are uniquely positioned to encourage our youngest eligible voters to register and make their voices heard,” Schmidt said. “After all, these voters have an enormous stake in the future direction of our Commonwealth and our country. We hope that every young voter becomes a lifelong voter.”

Participants in the virtual kickoff encouraged campuses across the Keystone State to join the Challenge and submit civic engagement plans to register students for the upcoming November general election. The Challenge’s key commitment areas include:

• Increasing student voting rates by helping students form the habits of active and informed citizenship and making democratic participation a core value on our campus.
• Convening a campus-wide working group that includes members from academic affairs, student affairs, the student body, and any other relevant stakeholders.
• Participating in the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE) in order to measure our student voting rates.
• Developing and implementing a data-driven action plan to improve civic learning, political engagement, and voter participation.

The 2024 PA Student Voting Summit, hosted by the Fair Election Center’s Campus Vote Project and supported by ALL IN, is scheduled for September 20 at the Forum Auditorium in Harrisburg. The 2022 PA Campus Voting Challenge award winners will be announced at this event.