The origins of the BadgersVote Coalition stretch back to 2013. The Morgridge Center began emphasizing the importance of voting after the arrival of Kathy Cramer as the new faculty director.
With Kathy as a driving force of civic engagement programming, the BadgersVote Coalition was created after the university participated in the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge in 2016. As a part of the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge, UW–Madison joined 575 higher education institutions across the nation to promote student voter engagement.
In 2016, the Andrew Goodman Foundation joined the ranks of the Morgridge Center partners, placing paid student interns in positions on campus to increase voter engagement and civic awareness.
Later in 2017, BadgersVote took a major step forward when UW–Madison joined the Big 10 Voting Challenge. The Big 10 Voting Challenge created a contest between all universities in the conference to get the highest and most improved student voter turnout.
Chancellor Rebecca Blank signed on to the challenge and appointed Kathy to lead the university’s efforts. Kathy created an advisory board, known as the Big 10 Voting Challenge Committee, to help determine initiatives with funds allocated to the challenge.
As the 2018 midterm elections rolled around, the Big 10 Voting Challenge Committee became the infrastructure of BadgersVote by bringing independent operators together to create cohesive messages. The committee worked to streamline all student voter information to vote.wisc.edu, a comprehensive voting information website for the university.
Launching off the energy from the Big 10 Voting Challenge, the BadgersVote Coalition officially formed as a permanent structure of the organization following the 2018 midterms.
Since its founding, BadgersVote has accumulated more funding for voting initiatives and increased the number of students involved in civic engagement on campus. The BadgersVote Student Coalition consists of interns housed in the Morgridge Center who work for a variety of organizations, including the Andrew Goodman Foundation, the League of Women Voters, Campus Vote Project, Campus Election Engagement Project (CEEP) and several other community partnerships.
The students spearheaded the coalition’s charge to conquer social platforms. Today, BadgersVote has accounts on Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and Instagram — where they reach nearly 1,000 engagements per post. BadgersVote interns also launched a YouTube channel and a podcast in 2020.
In addition to heightened student involvement, the breadth of the people involved has increased exponentially to include community members without university affiliation, including the Madison City Clerk’s Office.
BadgersVote promoted its efforts throughout the pandemic and the 2020 election, and the coalition continued to remain true to its original mission, which is, in the words of Kathy, to “make sure students have all the information they need in order to vote and to also promote a very strong belief in democracy and the importance of students having their voices heard.”
The BadgersVote coalition continued strong into the 2022 fall midterm elections, supported by the Madison City Clerk’s Office, the Andrew Goodman Foundation, Campus Vote Project and more. In the spring of 2023, the BadgersVote coalition and intern team kept civic engagement rolling into local elections, collaborating with new partners and inviting students to engage with their local government.
Alongside many dedicated and civically engaged groups and individuals, BadgersVote was proud to have worked to engage voters for the 2023 spring Wisconsin Supreme Court Election, which set a record for voter turnout in spring elections that don’t coincide with a presidential primary.
This astounding voter turnout is just the beginning for our organization. BadgersVote is committed to taking this momentum and continuing to push voter turnout expectations.