Rice breaks university records for voter participation

By Simon Leton     1/21/25 10:26pm

Rice has been recognized by the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge as one of 2024’s most engaged campuses. Harris County precinct data indicates a record number of 1,399 ballots were cast from students and employees living on campus. 

This represents an 18% and 35% increase from the 2020 and 2016 elections, respectively. The total number of on-campus registered voters increased a similar 17% to 2,419.

These totals don’t include the 30% of Rice students who live off campus, or the percentage of Rice students who voted in other states. 

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The rise in civic participation comes after efforts by Rice Votes, Fondren Library’s Kelley Center for Government Information, the Center for Civic Leadership, the Baker Institute for Public Policy and other student organizations who promoted civic education, voter registration and engagement. 

Katherine Jeng, the student engagement chair for Civic Duty Rice, said she, Solomon Ni and Olivia Roark campaigned for a non-instructional election day. 

“It was really important to us that not only do we get this day off, but the stipulations with the staff and admin were that we had to show them why we needed the day off,” Jeng, a Hanszen College senior, said. “To that end, we organized the block party.” 

The block party, organized by Jeng, Roark and Sid Richardson College president Akshay Sethi, took place on Election Day from noon to 4 p.m. in the academic quad and featured voting information, food, campus and community organizations and even a bouncy castle. 

Rice IGNITE, a local chapter of IGNITE National, is a non-partisan organization that aims to empower women and non-binary individuals in politics. 

According to IGNITE presidents Carmine Steiner and Aleena Ahmad, the organization was a key collaborator for election day events including the block party as well as the results watch party, which extended from 7 p.m. into the early morning. 

“The watch party was pretty much filled — like all of Sid Richardson College commons,” Steiner said. “All of our food was eaten and it was really fun to just sit down in an area where everyone was anticipating the results and talking with their friends.” 

Steiner, a McMurtry College sophomore, said she witnessed civic engagement efforts expand across campus during her time as a student, including IGNITE’s recent establishment. 

Partisan groups, including the Rice Young Democrats and the Rice University College Republicans, were also active in promoting participation on campus. 

The RUCR hosted an election day watch party while the RYD engaged students by phone banking, door knocking, and attending rallies. RYD co-presidents Sammi Frey and Benjamin Kagan said they’ve made conscious efforts to reinvigorate the organization and to engage with Rice’s Democratic community. 

“We’ve knocked on doors and been to dorms all across campus,” Frey, a Hanszen College sophomore, said. “We’ve asked to see if people have plans to vote. We have lots and lots of merch that we’ve been giving out.”

 “I do feel that we were successful in engaging students and getting students enthused about some of these Democratic candidates,” Kagan said. “Obviously, they didn’t win, but we did do our part in helping to make phone calls and turn out voters.” 

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