The State of Student Voting

Campus by Campus Breakdown at Minnesota Community and Technical Colleges

In 2018, all of Minnesota’s Community and Technical Colleges enrolled in the NLSVE to help them understand the voting trends of their students.  The voting rate for these institutions was 57.5%, a slight decrease from the 2012 election but 10.1% higher than the average for 2-year institutions across the country. The change in the voting rate for individual institutions varied from an increase of 5.9% to a decrease of 5.0%.

When that data is explored campus by campus, 29 out of 30 community colleges in Minnesota had a voting rate of 50% or higher during the 2016 election.  The highest voting rate came from Anoka-Ramsey Community College at 65% and the lowest participation rate was at Rainy River College at 48.1%.  The high voting rate at Anoka-Ramsey Community College correlates with a high percentage of registered student voters on campus. Eleven institutions have a voting rate of over 60% and all of those institutions also have a voter registration rate of over 70%. This is additional evidence that the best way to increase student voting rates is to encourage voter registration.  If students are registered to vote, then they will vote. The colleges with the highest voting rate all have registration and voting rates of 84% or higher, with most in the 86% to 87% range.

Similar to other higher education institutions across the country, Minnesota’s Community and Technical Colleges did see a significant decrease in the student voting rate in the midterm election. The voting rate for the community colleges in 2014 was 27.5%, while the national average was 19.4% that same year.  In a reversal from Presidential election years, community colleges had a higher voting rate than 4-year public colleges by 1.8%. Private colleges in Minnesota voted at a higher rate than all public institutions with a voting rate of 31.1%. 

When comparing the top schools from presidential elections to midterm elections, there is a clear difference.  Colleges that have the highest percentage during presidential elections tend to be located in the Twin Cities area, and during the midterms they tend to be located in Greater Minnesota. However, three colleges from Greater Minnesota did appear in the top ten in 2016: Central Lakes College, Alexandria Technical College and Pine Technical College. Each saw an increase in voting in 2016 because of the appeal of the presidential candidate. It is important to remember that community colleges tend to reflect the voting habits of their community and tend not to be outliers as seen in other types of institutions.

The ethnic make-up of those communities can also have an impact on voting rates. Minnesota’s community college saw an increase in voting rates from every ethnic community in the state n 2016, except for Black.  This is a trend that was also seen nationally. As was mentioned, of all higher education institutions, there is a significant racial voting gap on community colleges.

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