UC Riverside received a Silver Seal from the All In Campus Democracy Challenge for having a student voting rate of about 69% in the 2020 presidential election.

The campus saw a 29% increase from the 2016 election and, for the first time, surpassed the national average, which was 66% last year. The voting rate reflects the percentage of eligible students who voted.

UCR also saw increases in other key areas according to a report by the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement, which tracks college voting numbers and released its latest report on Nov. 8.

The campus registration rate was 81%, a 12% increase from 2016, while the voting rate of registered students went up 25%.

“These are huge increases,” said Gerardo Medina, leadership and service programs coordinator with Student Life. “For the first time — to my knowledge — UCR is outperforming the national average. Now more than ever, it’s important for the university to invest in civic engagement and make it a pillar of the Highlander experience.”

Medina said the increases are part of a continued trend since the 2018 midterm election and follow a series of efforts to encourage student voter participation.

A voter engagement workgroup, now called the Civic Engagement Workgroup, that launched in 2016 has helped students get registered, created a website with voting resources, and worked with the Riverside County Registrar of Voters to provide polling places on campus.

In 2018, the group began helping students register to vote by mail, which ended up having a big impact in 2020 when the campus moved to remote instruction due to COVID-19, Medina said.