ROCK HILL, SOUTH CAROLINA – A university initiative to encourage more Winthrop students
to vote in last year’s presidential election worked. Winthrop student voter turnout
was up nearly 5 percent from 2012, according to a national study.
Called the National Study of Learning, Voting and Engagement (NSLVE) through Tufts
University, the study results showed that Winthrop student voter turnout of 58.1 percent
surpassed the national average for college students by 7.7 percent.
“We are quite pleased with the Winthrop campus results which exceeded our expectations,”
said Karen Kedrowski, political science professor and executive director of the university’s
new Center for Civic Learning. “Student voter turnout was up across all ages and almost
all majors and racial/ethnic groups.”
Winthrop has participated in the National Study of Learning, Voting and Engagement
projectsince 2012 and is among more than 1,000 institutions to participate. NSLVE
researchers match student enrollment data with each state’s voting records.
The national average for all 18-24 year olds was 43 percent.
Among majors at Winthrop, students in the history, liberal arts and social sciences
reported the highest rates of voting. History, visual and performing arts, and English
saw the greatest increases in voter turnout. Students in philosophy & religious studies
and natural resources & conservation saw small declines.
Winthrop faculty, staff and students teamed together to encourage participation in
the November election through the Winthrop Decision 2016 initiative. Their efforts
resulted in Winthrop being designated as a Voter Friendly Campus, one of only two
in the state and 83 in the nation.
And more recently, Winthrop’s student voter turnout rate earned a Bronze Shield from
the All In Campus Democracy Challenge. “This is the second national recognition Winthrop
received for its 2016 student voter registration, education, and turn out efforts,”
said Kedrowski, who noted that Bronze Award recipients had between 50-59 percent student
turnout.
Kedrowski said Winthrop can use the 2016 voter results to help set goals for 2018
and 2020 elections. She expects the university will continue participation with the
Voter Friendly Campus Initiative and the All In Campus Democracy Challenge.
More details about the Winthrop report are available on the West Forum web site here.
For more information, contact Kedrowski at kedrowskik@winthrop.edu or at 803/323-2217.
