College Basketball Coaches Commit To Increasing Student-Athlete Voting Ahead of 2022 Midterm Elections

The ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge, National Association of Basketball Coaches and Women’s Basketball Coaches Association team up to increase nonpartisan democratic engagement on campuses across the country

(Washington, D.C.): Today, the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge (ALL IN), National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) announced the 2022 Coaches’ Voter Engagement Pledge, a joint effort to recruit 1,500 college coaches committed to increasing nonpartisan voter registration and turnout among student-athletes. Coaches who sign the Voter Engagement Pledge commit to registering 100 percent of their eligible student-athletes and supporting voter education and turnout in this year’s midterm elections and beyond.

ALL IN and the NABC originally launched the pledge in 2020 as part of their student-athlete voting initiative, which provides nonpartisan voter education, registration, turnout, and advocacy resources to support the engagement of college athletics in the democratic process. To date, over 150 college and university coaches have signed the 2022 pledge after more than 1,200 pledges were collected in 2020. The signatories in 2020 included representation from 83 percent of NCAA Division I institutions and featured signatures from all three NCAA divisions, the NAIA, two-year colleges and high school programs. Additionally, 120 coaches joined the Coaches’ Voter Education Task Force to serve as an advisory group for fellow coaches.

“ALL IN is working every day to get all students engaged in the democratic process,” said Jennifer Domagal-Goldman, Ph.D., Executive Director of ALL IN. “Student-athletes are one of the largest and most influential groups on college campuses. With the encouragement of coaches and athletics staff, we have seen how student-athletes can make a dramatic difference in encouraging democratic engagement among their peers.”

“The heightening commitment across college athletics to supporting student-athlete civic engagement over the past two years has been nothing short of remarkable, and traces its roots back to the collective efforts of coaches and the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge,” said NABC Executive Director Craig Robinson. “Equipping student-athletes with tools to become more active participants in the democratic process remains a top priority for the NABC and our member coaches, and we look forward to continuing this impactful initiative with ALL IN and our colleagues at the WBCA in the coming months.” 

“Student-athletes are among our next generation of leaders in every facet of society. We must prepare them to lead and serve others as astute, thoughtful, and considerate citizens who participate in the democratic process by exercising their right to vote in elections and encouraging their fellow students to do the same,” said WBCA Executive Director Danielle Donehew. “The Women’s Basketball Coaches Association is proud to join ALL IN and the NABC in promoting the nonpartisan 2022 Coaches’ Voter Engagement Pledge. We encourage our family of coaches to sign the pledge and commit themselves to the important process of helping their student-athletes register to vote, educate themselves on the candidates and issues, make their voices heard at the ballot box, and celebrate the privilege to do so that we have as Americans.”

The ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge empowers colleges and universities to achieve excellence in nonpartisan student democratic engagement. Campuses that join the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge complete a set of action items, with the support of ALL IN staff, to institutionalize nonpartisan civic learning, political engagement, and voter participation on their campus. The ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge community is currently engaged with over 9 million students from more than 900 institutions in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.