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The University of Florida is one of 394 colleges and universities in the nation recognized for efforts to increase nonpartisan democratic engagement in the 2022 election.

The ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge named UF as a 2022 ALL IN Most Engaged Campuses for College Student Voting on Nov. 17. The initiative, organized by the nonprofit Civic Nation, has been joined by more than 950 institutions in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

UF President Kent Fuchs earlier signed a commitment to the ALL IN initiative and tasked the Bob Graham Center for Public Service with making sure that UF meets the goals of that initiative. Civic Engagement Coordinator Teresa Cornacchione, PhD, is leading the effort at the Bob Graham Center.

“I think we were most successful in getting students excited about the midterm election,” Cornacchione said. “I was also very proud of our UF TurboVote reminder enrollments. This service is paid for by the university and will provide enrollees free text or email reminders about important election information, such as registration deadlines and mail-in ballot information; it will also ping enrollees when it’s time to vote.”

Most recently, UF’s voter outreach effort has culminated in the formation of UF’s first campus civic engagement cabinet, according to Cornacchione. The Cabinet will be a permanent partnership of civic-minded organizations and campus institutions committed to developing and promoting a culture of civic engagement on campus year-round. Campus organizations are invited to join the UF Civic Engagement Cabinet.

“I see us being the permanent on-campus center for get-out-the-vote efforts in upcoming elections. Our goal is to be synonymous with student voting,” Cornacchione said. “If students have questions about voting, want to register or update their registration, I want them to immediately think about coming to the Graham Center, and know that they will get reliable and non-partisan assistance.

College student voter turnout has increased across the U.S. since 2016, largely due to efforts of programs like the ALL IN Challenge.

“Gen Z gets a bad rap sometimes, and it is unfair. While it is easy to dismiss their love of TikTok – we should not ignore the fact that this is a generation that is incredibly socially conscious.They volunteer more than older cohorts. They also had a high voter turnout this midterm, with 27% of voters younger than 30 turning out nationwide. This is the second highest midterm youth voter turnout rate in the past 30 years, behind only the ballot in 2018,” Cornacchione said.

Campuses that join the ALL IN challenge complete a set of action items to institutionalize nonpartisan civic learning, political engagement, and voter participation on their campus. ALL IN currently engages over 9 million students in the United States to grow the number who are democratically engaged on an ongoing basis, during and between elections.

UF was recognized by completing these four actions:

• Participating in the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge.
• Sharing 2020 NSLVE Reports, including campus voting data, with ALL IN.
• Developing and submitting a 2022 democratic engagement action plan with ALL IN.
• Having a current signatory to ALL IN’s Higher Education Presidents’ Commitment to Full Student Voter Participation. UF President Dr. Kent Fuchs signed on to the commitment in June 2020.

The goal is to make democratic engagement on college campuses an accepted and expected part of the culture and curriculum so that students graduate with the knowledge, skills, behaviors, and values needed to be informed and active citizens.

Learn more about the Bob Graham Center for Public Service here.