St. Olaf College wins award for highest student voter turnout in Minnesota — and the U.S.
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St. Olaf College in Northfield had the highest college voter turnout in Minnesota during the 2022 midterm elections, according to recently released data.
Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon shared the findings on Thursday in announcing the winners of the 2022 Democracy Cup, a statewide competition to boost college voter turnout. On even years, every campus in Minnesota races to turn out the highest percentage of voters to win the Democracy Cup. The effort is supported by the Minnesota Secretary of State’s office, several student associations and the All In Campus Democracy Challenge.
St. Olaf won the 2022 Democracy Cup with 90 percent of its students registered to vote and 67 percent of students voting during the midterm elections.
In fact, St. Olaf had the highest voter turnout rate of the more than 1,000 private and public colleges and universities in the country that participated in competition, according to All In.
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It marks the second victory in a row for the private liberal arts school of about 3,000 students. It also had the highest student voter turnout in 2020, with 87 percent of students voting. In both instances, the campus voted at a rate higher than the state average — 80 percent in 2020 and 61 percent in 2022.
“We want maximum participation period, whether folks are old or young, students or not,” Simon said after a voter engagement event at Metropolitan State University in St. Paul.
“We want more people with their hand on the steering wheel than not, and so the more we can get people voting and using their voice and expressing themselves and trying to affect change at the ballot box, the better.”
Simon said the results took time to compile and only just became available. Voter turnout is decided relative to each college or university’s eligible voter base, as determined by a national study at Tufts University.
Institutions were ranked for highest student voter turnout by their category. Other 2022 Democracy Cup winners were:
2-year public college: Pine Technical and Community College in Pine City (48.3 percent of students voting)
4-year public state university: Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall (44.5 percent of students voting)
4-year public university: University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (52 percent of students voting)
With just weeks until the general election on Nov. 5, Simon and other voting advocates used the Democracy Cup results to dispel cynicism around the impact of youth votes.
“We have the numbers and we have the energy and the vision to make a real difference, but that vision only becomes a reality if we show up to the polls,” said Ayan Jama, a senior at Metropolitan State University in St. Paul. She works with Metro State Votes, the university’s campaign to increase student voter participation.
“We are the ones inheriting this world, and we have every right to shape it,” added Jama.
Simon expects to see an increase in young voter participation this November, thanks to voter access laws like automatic voter registration and pre-registration of 16- and 17-year-olds and a presidential election “that inspires strong feelings.”
Recent polling shows young voters have been invigorated by Vice President Kamala Harris becoming the Democratic presidential nominee. In poll released Tuesday from the Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics, Harris holds a 31-point lead over former President Donald Trump among likely voters ages 18 to 29 nationwide.
Analysis from the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) at Tufts University anticipates young voters in Minnesota could decide how the state goes in the presidential election and the outcome of the state’s election in the 2nd Congressional District between U.S. Rep Angie Craig, a Democrat running for reelection, and Republican Joe Teirab.
