SUNY New Paltz named a 2024 Most Engaged Campus for College Student Voting
The University joins 471 campuses in being named a 2024 ALL IN Most Engaged Campus for College Student Voting
SUNY New Paltz has been recognized by the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge as a 2024 ALL IN Most Engaged Campus for College Student Voting, capping a months-long get-out-the-vote effort by passionate volunteers from across the institution.
The ALL IN Most Engaged Campuses for College Student Voting recognizes colleges and universities that go above and beyond to increase nonpartisan student voter participation. The culture of voting at SUNY New Paltz owes to collaboration between student groups, faculty, and staff.
[Read more here about 2024 voter turnout efforts at SUNY New Paltz.]
Throughout the fall semester, multiple stakeholders joined together to institutionalize democratic engagement and increase student voter turnout. Students signed up in droves to work the polls, faculty and staff encouraged students to vote and non-partisan groups helped with voter registration.
“We’re honored to be recognized as one of the 2024 ALL IN Most Engaged Campus for College Student Voting,” said Leslie Gutierrez-Saldana ’20 (Black Studies), the Civic and Community Engagement Coordinator in the Center for Student Engagement at SUNY New Paltz. “This recognition highlights the collective efforts of our campus community to prioritize civic engagement and empower students to make their voices heard.”
Those collective efforts included significant contributions from faculty and staff, including Brian Obach, professor in the Department of Sociology.
“It is an honor to be recognized by this national organization for our efforts,” Obach said. “New Paltz maintains its reputation as a campus where students are politically engaged and concerned about the state of our society.”
About ALL IN
The ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge currently engages 10.8 million students from more than 1,075 institutions in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Their Most Engaged Campuses for College Student Voting program highlights colleges and universities that developed and submitted a 2024 democratic engagement action plan with ALL IN and were participating in this year’s challenge.
“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,” said Jennifer Domagal-Goldman, Executive Director of the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge, in a press release. “These Most Engaged Campuses are setting the standard for nonpartisan civic engagement work for colleges and universities across the country.”
In 2020, despite ongoing shutdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic, New Paltz students finished first in the SUNY system in voter participation. The campus has a student voter participation rate of over 70%, and earned a gold seal from ALL IN’s Campus Democracy Challenge. In 2022, New Paltz earned a silver seal from ALL IN for 30 to 39% of students voting in the midterm elections.