Lake Michigan College has been recognized for its efforts to help students register to vote.

The ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge has awarded LMC its Gold Campus Award for Excellence in Student Voter Engagement for the college’s work ahead of the 2022 elections.

Tiffany Bohm with the LMC political science faculty tells us the college has worked for years to engage students in the political process with a goal of remaining non-partisan. In recent years, students have taken more of a leadership role.

“It is growing as a student-led initiative to increase voter engagement, but we have an organization called LMC Votes that we started in 2016, ahead of the 2016 presidential election, where it is a community and campus-based group with students and external partners like the League of Women Voters of Berrien and Cass County, and we coordinate for voter registration drives,” Bohm said.

Bohm says in 2022, LMC increased its voting rate by more than 6% over the 2018 voting rate.

The Gold Campus Award recognizes a voting rate of 40 to 49% among students who are eligible to vote, with LMC’s 2022 voting rate at 41.5%. LMC’s rate compares to an overall rate of 30.6% for all higher education institutions and 29% for community colleges nationwide.

LMC operates a website for students to know more about the elections that will affect them, and Bohm says it’s frequently visited.

Bohm says LMC students are engaged and excited for this year’s election. A large group of her students were getting together to watch this week’s vice presidential debate.