BALTIMORE – Notre Dame of Maryland University’s high voter turnout in the 2018 and 2020 elections was recognized by a national organization supported by over 900 campuses across the United States.
NDMU received a Platinum Seal for the 2018 election and a Gold Seal for the 2020 election from the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge, a nonpartisan, national initiative recognizing and supporting campuses as they work to increase nonpartisan democratic engagement and full student voter participation. The ALL IN Challenge Awards recognize colleges and universities committed to increasing student voting rates.
“While we are proud of receiving national recognition for the high levels of civic engagement on Notre Dame’s campus, our faculty, staff, administrators, and students are committed to working collaboratively to increase our numbers in the 2022 election cycle,” said Lindsay A. Chudzik, NDMU’s director of service learning and community engagement. “We are hosting a voter registration drive on October 17th, as well as arranging shuttle service on election day to the polling place of students registered to vote using their campus addresses. These efforts are crucial, as those who are more civic-minded are better prepared to address the most pressing challenges of their communities and of the world. At NDMU, it is our job to prepare all of our students for this necessary work.”
The Office of Service Learning and Community Engagement’s on-campus voter registration drive on October 17 will take place from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and again from 4 to 6 p.m. inside Doyle Dining Hall. Shuttle service to students’ polling places on Election Day (Tuesday, Nov. 8) will depart from in front of Theresa Hall every hour between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m.
The Platinum Seal was awarded after NDMU achieved a voting rate between 80% and 89% during the 2018 midterms. NDMU earned a Gold Seal during the COVID-impacted 2020 fall semester after posting a voting rate between 69.5% and 79.4%.
Student participation in elections has increased from the 2016 presidential election to the recent 2020 presidential election. According to the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement, an initiative of Tufts University’s Institute for Democracy & Higher Education, voter turnout at the more than 1,200 institutions participating in the study increased by 14 points from 52% to 66%. NDMU’s data reveals an increase by 18.5%.
“We are excited to honor NDMU with ALL IN Challenge Platinum and Gold Seals in recognition of their intentional efforts to increase democratic engagement and full student voter participation,” said Jennifer Domagal-Goldman, executive director of the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge. “Institutions like NDMU are fostering civic-mindedness and institutionalizing nonpartisan democratic engagement efforts that are resulting in the incredible student voter turnout rates that we’ve seen across the country.”
The ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge encourages higher education institutions to help students form the habits of active and informed citizenship, and make democratic participation a core value on their campus. More than 930 campuses across all 50 states and the District of Columbia that collectively enroll more than 9.2 million students have joined ALL IN since its launch in 2016.
Established in 1895, Notre Dame of Maryland University (NDMU) is a private, Catholic institution in Baltimore, Maryland, with the mission to educate leaders to transform the world. Notre Dame has been named one of the best "Regional Universities North" by U.S. News & World Report.
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