Going All In

Alumni, Campus, Community, Arches

President Isiaah Crawford on encouraging students to participate in the democratic process.

You recently were named to the Presidents’ Council for the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge. What made you decide to play a leadership role in that effort?
I was honored to be invited to serve on the ALL IN Presidents’ Council. As an organization, they endeavor to empower colleges and universities to achieve excellence in nonpartisan student democratic engagement, which is foundational to us and the mission of the University of Puget Sound. As you know, we look to prepare our graduates to meet the highest tests of democratic citizenship. The alignment of the work ALL IN does with Puget Sound’s dedication to nurturing and promoting a commitment to civic engagement in our students was simply perfect.

Puget Sound has been involved with ALL IN since it began in 2016. What appeals to you about the initiative?
ALL IN and Puget Sound share the belief that it is very important for our young people to participate in our electoral process. They are committed to increasing student voting rates and assisting them in becoming active, informed, and engaged citizens in our democratic process—and we seek to do the same with our students.

Why is it important to engage citizens at this particular time in their lives, that is, when they’re college-age, very new voters?
We want to take advantage of the opportunity we have with our students as they matriculate through their studies with us to help ease their way, in a non-partisan manner, in making democratic participation one of their core and central values. Like ALL IN, we believe cultivating generations of engaged citizens is essential for a healthy and functional democracy.

President Isiaah Crawford and Jaylen Antoine '22 in Washington, D.C.

LOGGERS ON THE HILL President Crawford, on a recent trip to Washington, D.C., met with Jaylen Antoine ’22, who’s interning in the office of Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp-Perez of Washington’s 3rd Congressional District.

Puget Sound has done well in terms of student voter participation in past presidential elections, with more than 60% turnout in 2016 and more than 80% in 2020. How have we been so successful in encouraging students to register and vote?
Yes, we have. In fact, University of Puget Sound received the ALL IN Democracy Challenge Award in 2021 for having one of the nation’s highest undergraduate student voting rates among 840 institutions in the 2020 presidential election.

Since 2016, our professional staff within Student Affairs have created goals specific to offering students numerous opportunities to be educated about their civic responsibilities, including community engagement and voter registration. In 2016, our associate director of spiritual life and civic engagement at that time, Skylar Marston-Bihl ’08, worked across campus to create a collaborative network of offices and teams that focused on four key practices: voter registration, voter education, ballot access, and “Get Out the Vote”—that was a national campaign in which we participated. The high level of participation we saw in 2016 spurred us to create a student employee position dedicated to voter engagement. The commitment to that student employee position has continued, and we look forward to having our eager Voter Engagement Specialist advance our initiatives this fall.

What can we do to further enhance student participation in elections?
More than 8 million Gen Z voters will enter the voting ranks this year, increasing the number of eligible Gen Z voters in the fall 2024 election to about 40 million. Participation this year will hinge on connecting students to issues that they care about and will be on their home state ballots, such as climate change and economic initiatives. It will also be important to engage with them about the importance of voter participation on the social media platforms they utilize regularly.

What can we do to further enhance student participation in elections?
We will launch a number of initiatives in fall 2024. Voter education and registration information will be key parts of the residential curriculum for both first- and second-year students. Students will learn more about the importance of voting and how to register to vote. Additionally, we will connect with all of our students via their individual emails on how to register to vote in their home state, ensuring that they have the correct dates and links to register on time for the November 5 election. These initiatives will run concurrently with weekly tabling in Wheelock with bipartisan election information, along with an array of other programming throughout the fall.

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