Sam Dunaway | News Editor

The 2016 election marked many Western student’s first time voting in a federal election. Western Oregon University, along with hundreds of other campuses across the United States, took part in a study to acquire data on student voting rates and how this compares to previous elections.

This study, conducted by the National Study of Learning, Voting and Engagement (NSLVE), represented over 10 million students and covered campus-wide student voting rates in the 2012, 2014 and 2016 elections.

Between 2012 and 2016, enrollment at Western decreased by nearly 13 percent, resulting in less eligible voters for the 2016 election. But voter registration persisted and the registration rate increased by 7 percent in 2016, as compared to 2012. The overall voting rate for the 2016 election increased as well, with 59.4 percent of students turning in their ballot, while the 2012 rate sat at 53.2 percent. Compared to the cumulative data between all institutions in the study, Western students voted more than the average university’s students by 9 percent.

The increase in voter registration for the 2016 election may be due to the Oregon Student Association and ASWOU’s student outreach that led to 859 new or updated registered voters at Western and an estimated 49,000 statewide.

Spencer Dixon, Partnerships Coordinator of Young Invincibles, works to institutionalize voter registration across college campuses. The organization aims to breaks barriers that prevent individuals from voting and increase voter registration among college students.

“When campuses lead the way and provide students with resources and encourage them, students are more likely to participate,” Dixon commented. “We are hoping to take this report and make sure everyone’s aware of the numbers and commit to actions campuses can take to increase those rates.”

Find the full results here within the Oct. 25 meeting docket.