Radford University’s initiatives to develop voter education plans and increase student voter turnout at the polls have earned the institution a Voter Friendly Campus designation from the Campus Vote Project.
Campus initiatives over the last five years have included the creation of the Campus Voter Team and Highlanders Vote student organizations, both of which are committed to helping Radford students to register and vote.
Radford’s efforts “to break down barriers and empower students with the information and tools they need to participate in the political process lead to tremendous youth voter turnout and opened the door to lifelong civic engagement for your students,” the group said.
‘’By working closely with Campus Vote Project, Highlanders Vote and the Campus Voter team, we were able to pull off many successful civic engagement initiatives, such as the Road to the Ballot Box, which gave students the resources and means to register and vote,” said Devin Van Dyke, a junior political science major from Richlands, Virginia.
“It is my goal that every Highlander has their voice heard in local, state and federal elections,” he continued. “With Radford University being designated once again as a Voter Friendly Campus, I am grateful that I was able to do my part in empowering my peers to go to the polls.”
Van Dyke serves as a democracy fellow for the Campus Vote Project.
The Voter Friendly Campus designation program began in 2016 through a partnership between the Fair Elections Center’s Campus Vote Project and the student affairs organization NASPA and its LEAD Initiative. The partnership became an instrument to support colleges and universities in fulfilling requirements of the Higher Education Act of 1965, which calls for higher education institutions to distribute voter registration forms to students.
"Voting is one of the ways we show that Highlanders find their place here at Radford University,” said Professor Chapman Rackaway, chair of the Department of Political Science, who leads the campus initiative to increase student voter participation. “We're proud to have been recognized for the support we provide to every student in encouraging them to register and vote. This continued recognition is a sign that we're living that promise to full participation, and I hope we'll only be able to get closer to that goal every year, every election."
In 2024, Radford earned a bronze seal from the All IN Campus Democracy Challenge based on the university’s 2022 campus voting rate.
“Radford University is fast developing a reputation for student-led participation in democracy and a commitment to open discourse on political and social topics,” said Radford University President Bret Danilowicz. “Professor Rackaway has shown outstanding leadership in ‘all things voting’ for our university and has inspired students to make their voices heard at the ballot box. We are proud to be recognized as a leading institution in Virginia, and nationally, in student civic engagement.”