Northern Illinois University is committed to developing active, engaged and informed citizens who become global leaders who work to build a better society. As such, the university is proud to participate for the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge, a program that seeks to enhance student involvement in voter education, registration and mobilization.
A steering committee comprised of faculty, staff, students, administrators and community members worked with dozens of additional members of the university and community to create an action plan (PDF).
2022 Goals
Over the course of 2022 the goals for NIU’s democratic engagement action plan is to focus on three primary areas: voter registration, voter education, and voter turnout. The goals for each area are listed below.
Voter Registration
Retain the percentage of students who registered in 2020 at 75%.
Have 50% of the first-year student cohort become registered voters.
Offer at least 20 NIU organized voter registration opportunities to all students by the end of October 2022.
Voter Turnout
Retain the percentage of students who voted in the general election in 2020 at 50%.
Surpass the mean voter turnout rate for all institutions participating in the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE). NIU did not meet this goal in 2020.
Voter Education
Offer at least three formal voter education programs
Develop NIU’s Democracy Challenge Student Ambassadors that will engage student leaders in the creation of non-partisan conversations on voter registration, education, and turnout.
Develop and widely promote videos with voter engagement information for all students