Grant will help Highlander voters ‘put the party in political party’

The ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge has awarded a grant to Radford University to fund Election Day activities for students as they await public transportation to the local voting precinct.

Each year, the Radford Department of Political Science and Highlanders Vote sponsor an Election Day shuttle for students so they can quickly and conveniently cast their ballots.

The $2,000 ALL IN grant will be used to provide entertainment at the campus shuttle stop. "We'll be able to offer lawn games, DJs and band performances," said Chapman Rackaway, professor and political science department chair. "We're going to put the party in political party on Election Day 2026."

The Nov. 3 entertainment is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

"This grant will help boost our efforts to get students out to vote," Rackaway explained. "Civic engagement, encouraging students to conduct acts of leadership within the community, is an important element of Radford's culture of care."

The ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge empowers colleges and universities to achieve excellence in nonpartisan student civic engagement. Through an intentionally designed program that provides structure, support and recognition, ALL IN works to improve civic learning, voter participation and ongoing engagement in our democracy at more than 1,000 campuses nationwide.

In 2024, Radford earned a bronze seal from the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge based on the university's 2022 campus voting rate. The university's 2026 action plan earned the Highly Engaged Seal from ALL IN, the organization's highest designation.

In the spring, then-senior political science major Devin VanDyke '26 was selected to the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge 2026 Student Voting Honor Roll.

Radford's initiatives to develop voter education plans and increase student voter turnout at the polls have also earned the institution a Voter Friendly Campus designation from the Campus Vote Project and NASPA, an organization of administration in higher education student affairs.

Campus initiatives over the last five years have included the creation of the Campus Voter Team and Highlanders Vote student organizations, both committed to helping Radford students register and vote.