Montgomery County Community College received a Gold Seal from the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge national awards program for achieving a campus voting rate between 40% and 49% in the 2018 midterm elections.

The ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge is a nonpartisan, national initiative recognizing and supporting campuses as they work to increase nonpartisan democratic engagement and full student voter participation. The 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.

MCCC was one of over 560 institutions honored at the ALL IN Challenge Awards Ceremony on Nov. 12 at the Newseum in Washington, D.C.

“MCCC is very proud to receive this national recognition,” said MCCC Director of Government and External Relations Michael Bettinger. “We are committed to providing students with opportunities for engagement, and this award demonstrates the high level of civic participation among our student body.  We look forward to continuing these efforts into the future.”

Student participation in elections has increased from the 2014 midterm election to the recent 2018 midterm election. According to the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE), an initiative of Tufts University’s Institute for Democracy & Higher Education (IDHE), voter turnout at the more than 1,000 institutions participating in the study increased by 21 points from 19% to 40%.

MCCC recorded above average voter turnout numbers. Approximately 44.9% of all MCCC students cast their ballots in the 2018 midterm elections, which is 24.2 points higher than the MCCC student-voting rate in the 2014 midterm elections. About 67.3% of students registered to vote, and of the students registered, 66.7% voted.

“We are excited to honor Montgomery County Community College with an ALL IN Challenge gold seal in recognition of their intentional efforts to increase democratic engagement and full voter participation,” said Jennifer Domagal-Goldman, executive director of the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge. “More institutions like MCCC are changing culture on campus by institutionalizing nonpartisan democratic engagement efforts that are resulting in the incredible student voter turnout rates that we’ve seen across the country.”

More than 560 campuses, enrolling more than 6.2 million students, have joined the Challenge since its launch in summer 2016.