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Simpson College has earned designation as a Voter-Friendly Campus, one of 258 campuses in 38 states and the District of Columbia by Fair Elections Center’s Campus Vote Project and NASPA – Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education. The initiative recognizes institutions that have planned and implemented practices that encourage their students to register and vote in the 2022 elections and in coming years.
The mission of the 2023-2024 Voter Friendly Campus designation is to bolster colleges and universities’ efforts to help students overcome barriers to participating in the political process – every year, not just during years featuring federal elections. Simpson College was evaluated based on a written plan for registering, educating, and turning out student voters in 2022, how it facilitated voter engagement, as well as a final analysis of those efforts.
“Simpson College’s student-led civic engagement initiatives, supported by the Andrew Goodman Foundation’s Vote Everywhere program, reach a broad cross-section of our student population with essential nonpartisan information on voting and political participation,” said Seth Andersen, Director of the John C. Culver Public Policy Center at Simpson College. “We are proud to have some of the highest rates of student voter registration and turnout in the nation, with our student team working equally hard during Midterm elections and odd-numbered years to maintain a high level of student engagement in the democratic process.”
As part of its work to be designated a Voter Friendly Campus, Simpson College has implemented comprehensive civic engagement and voter registration presentations in all Foundations I first-year seminar classes and deepened relationships across academic, athletic, and extracurricular programs to build on the College’s long-standing reputation as a politically balanced and highly engaged campus. Simpson President Marsha Kelliher has also demonstrated strong institutional commitment as a signatory of the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge’s President’s Commitment to 100% Student Voter Registration and Turnout. In addition to the Voter Friendly Campus designation, Simpson has been recognized by ALL IN as one of the Most Engaged Campuses for College Student Voting and by Washington Monthly Magazine as one of America’s Best Colleges for Student Voting.
Simpson deeply values its civic mission to prepare students for thoughtfully engaged participation in our democracy and is eager to continue engaging students through 2023, 2024, and beyond.
The institutions designated Voter Friendly Campuses represent a wide range of two-year, four-year, public, private, rural, and urban campuses, collectively serving over 3.5 million students. Notably, the list of designated institutions includes 49 Minority Serving Institutions and 13 Historically Black Colleges and Universities, as well as 41 Community Colleges.