BIG TEN VOTING CHALLENGE
Launched in 2017, the Big Ten Voting Challenge is a nonpartisan initiative created to spur civic engagement and encourage more students across the Big Ten to head to the polls on Election Day. Each of the 14 schools currently within the Big Ten Conference compete in the challenge.
Utilizing NSLVE data as our benchmark, two winners are honored for results during each Presidential or Midterm election cycle: the campus with the greatest overall turnout for the election, and the campus with the greatest growth in turnout from midterm to midterm (2018 to 2022) or Presidential to Presidential (2020 to 2024). Winning campuses will be announced when NSLVE reports have been released and reviewed, generally 6 to 9 months after the election.
The average student voting rate across the Big Ten Conference spiked to 43 percent for the 2018 midterm elections, surpassing the national average student voting rate of 40 percent, and more than double the national student voting rate of 19 percent in 2014.
In 2020 the turnout rate of eligible students conference wide was approximately 72%, an improvement of nearly 14 percentage points from 2016–meaning that there were over 90,000 more Big 10 student voters in 2020 than there were in 2016. The winners of the Big Ten Voting Challenge in 2020 were the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities with the highest turnout, and Michigan State University with the largest growth in turnout from 2016 to 2020.
By continuing our civic engagement efforts, the real winner will be you – for exercising your privilege to vote and your power to change the world.
To get started, visit govote.umich.edu
Campus partners
U-M supporters of the challenge include:
Office of the President
Office of the Provost
Office of the Vice President for Student Life
Office of the Vice President for Government Relations
Office of the Vice President for Communications
Central Student Government (CSG)
Professor Edie Goldenberg and Turn Up Turnout
Office of the Registrar
Office of New Student Programs
The Ginsberg Center
University of Michigan Library
Recognition and Media
