A recent report finds that student voting at Ohio Northern University increased significantly in last year’s presidential election, rising 12 points to 65% in 2020 from a rate of 53% in 2016.

Dr. Robert Alexander, the founding director of the Institute for Civics and Public Policy at Ohio Northern notes that he is “excited to see such large numbers of students take part in the important ritual of voting.” He adds that “For most, this is their first experience voting and establishing this habit early is instrumental in connecting one another to the democratic process.” 

The report comes from the Institute for Democracy & Higher Education (IDHE), creators of the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement, or NSLVE. IDHE is located at Tufts University’s Tisch College of Civic Life. Ohio Northern also earned a Silver Seal from the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge for its nonpartisan student voter participation efforts in the 2020 Election. 

The study’s authors report that nationwide students built on the momentum swing of 2018 and voted at high rates in the 2020 election.

Alexander attributes Ohio Northern’s success in getting young voters to participate to many factors: “Students from the Institute for Civics and Public Policy and our political science honor society spent many hours registering students to vote, answering questions about the process, and discussing the importance of voting across campus. Fortunately, many athletic teams, student groups, and campus organizations also supported these efforts.” 

IDHE’s National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE, pronounced n-solve) is the nation’s largest study of college and university student voting. The dataset reflects all 50 states and the District of Columbia and includes 49 of the nation’s 50 flagship schools. IDHE uses de-identified student records to ensure student privacy. The 2020 dataset is robust with 8,880,700 voting-eligible students representing 1,051 colleges and universities.