CCRI recognized as a 2024 ALL IN Most Engaged Campus for College Student Voting

11/20/2024

For the past two election cycles, the Community College of Rhode Island has been recognized by the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge as part of its Most Engaged Campuses for College Student Voting recognition program.

The ALL IN Most Engaged Campuses for College Student Voting recognizes colleges and universities for outstanding efforts to increase nonpartisan student voter participation. CCRI earned the same award in 2022 for its work during the United States midterm election, and this year, joins a group of 471 colleges and universities recognized by ALL IN.

“We are honored to win this award and be recognized for our effort to increase student voter registration, education, and turnout,” said CCRI Interim President Rosemary A. Costigan, Ph.D., RN, “CCRI is deeply committed to fostering a strong democratic society by empowering our students and community members with the knowledge and tools they need to engage in civic life so they are well-informed and empowered to make their voices heard at the ballot box.”

As part of its work to increase student voter turnout during the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election, CCRI hosted its first Democracy Fair at its Warwick Campus in October, inviting representatives from various political parties, public advocacy groups, voting rights organizations, and election officials to help students learn more about voter registration, how to register to vote, and how to find their polling place.

The college’s Student Engagement department also worked alongside ALL IN to celebrate national civic engagement days such as Voter Education Week, Voter Registration Day, Vote Early Day, Constitution Day, and, on September 17, National Voter Registration Day, hosted a “Beach Party” complete with a beach cabana voter registration booth, mini constitutions, information about planning to vote, and non-partisan information about the importance of civic engagement. Voter registration forms were available to students at all campuses during New Student Orientation, Welcome Week tabling, and Involvement Fairs. In addition, post-election decompression spaces were made available in partnership with the Dean of Students’ Office.

“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.” 

CCRI’s work with ALL IN dates to the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election when members of the college’s Pi Omicron Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) chapter worked to improve voter registration at CCRI as part of the ALL IN to Vote program. CCRI earned second place in the College Project Award competition at the 2021 PTK New England Region Spring Convention for its work on the voting project.

The ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge empowers colleges and universities to achieve excellence in nonpartisan student democratic engagement. Campuses that join ALL IN complete a set of action items, with the support of ALL IN staff, to institutionalize nonpartisan civic learning, political engagement, and voter participation on their campus. ALL IN currently engages more than 9.7 million students from more than 960 institutions in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

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