As part of the Rocky Mountain Showdown festivities, the Associated Students of Colorado State University partnered with the University of Colorado Boulder Student Government to encourage CSU and CU students to register to vote in the upcoming national election cycle. With millions of nationwide college students set to be eligible to vote for the first time, a renewed national emphasis has been placed on engaging student communities, which is statistically the least-engaged voter demographic.
The registration period opened Sept. 4 and closed Sept. 11, allowing the rival institutions to compete ahead of the weekend’s football game. Both organizations combined social media and campus engagement efforts to urge students on their respective campuses to finalize their voter registration.
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CUSG won the competition by engaging with 1,883 CU students, registering 349 new voters.
ASCSU engaged with 1,178 CSU students, garnering 209 registrations. Eighty-seven percent of those registered by ASCSU were under 25 years old, compared to CUSG’s 85%.
The competition is the latest in a long line of university-sponsored events as part of the CSU thematic Year of Democracy, which is geared toward increasing student political representation and engagement at the local, state and national levels. The initiative also emphasizes friendly political dialogue and cooperation, which remained central to ASCSU’s and CUSG’s vision for the voter registration competition.
“We’re obviously excited to win, but we’re honestly more excited to just work together and engage with students and get them registered to vote.” –Tyler Rowan, CUSG student body president
ASCSU President Nick DeSalvo attributed the loss to ASCSU’s involvement in multiple events and programs ahead of the Rocky Mountain Showdown. DeSalvo also mentioned CU’s larger campus population as a factor.
“Different aspects of our student government were worried about Grill the Buffs and tailgating and everything else to get done, and I honestly think (CUSG) had focused solely on this initiative,” DeSalvo said.
DeSalvo also mentioned that ASCSU trailed CUSG by half in the closing days of the competition and expressed pride in closing the gap. As the representative from the losing organization, DeSalvo will tour CU Boulder’s campus in full Buffaloes gear, although an official date has not been set.
CUSG Student Body President Tyler Rowan expressed satisfaction in victory while also reaffirming the contest’s core mission.
“We’re obviously excited to win, but we’re honestly more excited to just work together and engage with students and get them registered to vote,” Rowan said.
Rowan attributed CUSG’s triumph to the organization’s social media engagement while also revealing CUSG’s own juggling of responsibilities throughout the competition.
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Rowan said CUSG was involved in hiring new personnel while simultaneously engaging with students as part of the competition.
Ultimately, both organizations agreed that the competition as a whole was a success and a mutual benefit for not only the two organizations but the Colorado student population at large.
“One of the good things is that if we only registered 500 voters, that means probably the vast majority of people that interacted with us are registered to vote already,” DeSalvo said. “I think it’s good that students are civically engaged, and if they weren’t already, they’re starting to be.”
Alex Radz, another CUSG student body president, said he was especially happy with the two organizations’ ability to put rivalry aside for the benefit of Colorado students.
“It was really cool to use our rivalry in a positive manner because not many schools around the country are able to do that,” Radz said.
ASCSU Director of Governmental Affairs Ava Wilkins said she hopes the competition can retain already engaged students and bring in new student voters.
“With 50 days until the national election, we really hope this can be a jump-off point for students to get engaged and stay engaged,” Wilkins said.
Despite the Rocky Mountain Showdown’s absence until 2029, representatives from both organizations are energized by the possibility of future collaborative efforts and plan to continue working for the benefit of students across the state.
Reach Sam Hutton at news@collegian.com or on Twitter @Sam_Hut14.
