Northwest recognized as a Voter Friendly Campus

April 17, 2025 | By Kathleen Harner, communication assistant

Northwest Missouri State University has been recognized as a Voter Friendly Campus for its work to empower students to participate in their communities and affect change by participating in local, state and federal elections.

Northwest received the designation in March through a program developed by the Fair Elections Center's Campus Vote Project and the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators. This year is the first time Northwest has earned the recognition since the Voter Friendly Campus designation program was established in 2016.

The goal of the Voter Friendly Campus program is to help institutions develop democratic engagement action plans that coordinate administrators, faculty and student organizations in civic and electoral engagement.

The Bearcats Vote Coalition - a group comprising representatives of Student Senate, the Office of Student Affairs and academic affairs - began working in the spring of 2024 to increase voting interest on the campus through a series of short-term and long-term initiatives.

"The Voter Friendly Campus designation signifies to students, employees and the community that we are dedicated to empowering students to be active and engaged citizens," said Garrison Kennedy, Northwest's student rights and responsibilities coordinator. "We achieve these ends by designing and implementing action plans each year to meet strategic priorities, and these plans are a collaborative product of the Bearcats Vote Coalition, which invites a variety of stakeholders to explore the best ways for driving student participation in civic learning."

Civic learning and democratic engagement initiatives are among the duties of the student rights and responsibilities coordinator at Northwest. Voter registration is among the responsibilities of the Student Senate, per its constitution and bylaws.

The coalition prioritized collaborating with student organizations and campus departments to cultivate voting interest. The group focused on getting students interested in voting by having representation at campus events such as Summer Orientation Advisement and Registration (SOAR) and the Student Organization Fair. It also hosted voter registration drives on campus and provided sample absentee ballots to students interested in voting.

The coalition also worked to identify opportunities to increase students' accessibility to voting resources and collaborated with various campus offices and academic departments to increase communication regarding voter registration.

The group plans to convene this spring to evaluate its progress and continue its efforts in anticipation of the United States' mid-term election in 2026.