The Michigan Department of State received the 2020 Students Learn Students Vote (SLSV) Coalition Award for showcasing the SLSV Guiding Principle of Collaborating for Greater Impact, according to a release from the Secretary of State.
“Students of all ages and their organizations, schools, colleges and universities across the our state have been crucial partners with more than 1,600 clerks, tens of thousands of election workers and countless other nonpartisan organizations that helped Michigan carry out its safest, most secure election ever, that drew record-breaking turnout,” Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said in a press release. “Democracy is a team sport, and I am so impressed with and grateful to the many students and others who showed up to play for Michigan on Nov. 3.”
The SLSV Coalition is the largest nonpartisan network dedicated to increasing college student voter participation in the United States, according to its website.
The coalition uses “data, relationships, celebration and easy-to-follow planning structures” to help partners and campuses ensure every student has equal access to voting.
The Department of State is one of ten organizations recognized for their nonpartisan efforts to get college students to vote.
“We know that there is power in numbers,” Director of the SLSV Coalition Clarissa Unger said. “As a coalition, we believe in rising together, giving credit where credit is due and letting the voices, needs and lived experiences of communities guide our solution building. The Michigan Department of State perfectly exemplifies the principle of Collaborating for Greater Impact.”
This is the first time the coalition recognized organizations and campuses that exemplify its guiding principles.
“Youth turnout in 2020 is not an anomaly,” Unger said in a release. “It is part of a sustained trend powered by infrastructure that supports youth engagement, which importantly includes colleges, universities, and nonprofit organizations - institutions that young people learn from and engage with every day. The SLSV Coalition is proud to work with and recognize the continued and extraordinary efforts of our partners.”
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