On April 1, the McLean County municipal elections set records for student voting at Illinois State University’s Bone Student Center.
Center for Civic Engagement Associate Director Paige Buschman said there were 381 voters in the elections, with the majority of them being students. This was the highest number of voters ever for municipal elections on campus.
“My goal was 200 [voters], and that was not necessarily ambitious, but it certainly is on the higher end of some of the engagement we’ve seen, so I’m actually very pleased with how many students we saw come through,” Buschman said.
This year, voter turnout reached 25%. This was a notable increase from the typical 15% seen in previous municipal elections. Buschman explained the possible reasons behind the rise in voter participation.
“We may have seen some increased engagement because of a diversification of folks running,” Buschman said. “We had two major mayoral races, and they both had three candidates, so that might have encouraged people to vote because they felt like they had more choices.”
Buschman believes there is a trend of increased engagement, as November’s election similarly broke ISU records, with over 6,000 people voting in the presidential election.
“I’m hopeful that this trend continues, and we can keep folks engaged and continue to build a culture of voter engagement on campus,” Buschman said.
Caitlin Bradford, the CCE’s civic education and political engagement program assistant, said that student voters were excited to perform their civic duties.
“Students seemed very motivated to come and vote and often came with friends and encouraged their friends to cast their vote,” Bradford said.
Bradford highlighted the importance of students engaging in local politics.
“Local politics have such a direct impact [on] everyone’s lives, and voting allows students to have a more direct say in who represents them and what policies they want to see implemented,” Bradford said.
Buschman said that students should still vote in municipal elections, even if they only plan on living in Bloomington-Normal for the duration of college.
“[Students] never know how long they’re going to be here because I didn’t expect to make Bloomington-Normal my home, but I did,” Buschman said. “Also, voting is just a means by which you tell the world what kind of community you want to live in, even if it’s not permanent.”
Students can visit the Redbird Voter Guide for voting resources and information on future election events.
