Goal met with over 60 percent of SUNY Fredonia students voting in ’20 election

SUNY Fredonia students were squarely on board with the record numbers of Americans who voted in last year’s presidential election.

Just over 60 percent of all Fredonia students – a goal set by the campus’ American Democracy Project – voted in the 2020 general election, according to the Institute for Democracy & Higher Education’s National Study of Learning, Voting and Engagement (NSLVE) study compiled at Tufts University.

The tally represented a substantial increase – nearly 22 percentage points – over the 2016 general election.

“A thriving democracy requires that young people participate in civic life and maintain a commitment to political engagement over the long term,” said ADP Chair Angela McGowan-Kirsch. “Student political engagement was important during the 2020 election season. If students had chosen to sit out last year’s election, the decision would have had serious effects on the outcome of the election.”

Of nearly 3,200 students who were registered, 2,327 actually voted – a hefty increase of 641 from 2016, when fewer than 950 students went to the polls.

Fredonia students raised their voter registration rate to 82.7 percent, compared to 75 percent in 2016. The voting rate among registered students was 73 percent in 2020, a noteworthy jump from 51 percent in 2016.

“We’re proud of our students for being committed to exercising their right to vote despite all the hurdles placed before them due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s important that we keep this momentum as we enter the mid-term election season,” added Dr. McGowan-Kirsch, an assistant professor of Communication.

Even with 2020s voting surge, Fredonia lagged slightly below the 66 percent average student voting rate at similar institutions, according to the NSLVE study. College and university students participated in record-breaking numbers in the 2020 election. The average institutional voting rate was 53 percent in 2016.

The Fredonia rate was in line with the national rate of 6 of every 10 people of voting age who went to the polls, according to a preliminary Pew Research Center analysis.

“ADP wants to thank the Fredonia Democracy Initiative and the League of Women Voters Chautauqua County for helping us register students to vote,” McGowan-Kirsch said. “Thank you to everyone, including faculty, staff, and students, who helped ADP reach its goal of having over 60 percent of Fredonia students vote in the 2020 election.”