College students consistently have some of the lowest voter turnout of any age group. In the last presidential election, voter turnout from voters ages 18 to 24 was the lowest at 47.7%.
In 2012, then-Lt. Gov. Greg Bell launched a statewide college competition in Utah to help combat this problem, called the Campus Cup.
“It’s to incentivize voting registration on campuses,” said Courtney Rockwood, voter registration specialist at Brigham Young University. “You’re competing with different campuses around the state for most registered students.”
Schools get points by getting students to register to vote through their school-provided links. They also get points by promoting and increasing awareness for voter registration.
In 2024, Utah Valley University won the Campus Cup with more than 2,500 voter registrations. Second place went to BYU with more than 2,000 new voters, followed by Utah State University, Weber State University, Southern Utah University and Salt Lake Community College.
More voices, better government
The Gary R. Herbert Institute is a nonpartisan public policy center at UVU. Justin Jones, the executive director, said the mission “is to promote student engagement.” This may look like registering to vote, voting, supporting a campaign or doing an internship.
He said, “I think our government is better with more voices and especially (from) this younger generation.”
Alexa Herrera, communications assistant at the Herbert Institute for Public Policy, said that “it’s our civic duty and our constitutional right to participate in democracy and we should take full advantage of that.” And while the competition is motivating, “everybody should just get registered to vote regardless of the school you go to or how old you are.”
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Rockwood said it’s important for students to vote because it “is our first look into adulthood where we are going to have a say in the communities that we’re a part of.” And, “If you really do want to see a change, you have to be a part of it.”
The 2026 race
The 2026 midterm Campus Cup is extra competitive this year after the close call between UVU and BYU in 2024.
Herrera said UVU is working hard to promote registration with weekly tabling events with free doughnuts, making announcements in classes, and having sweepstakes competitions with tickets to the RedWest music festival as the prize. She pointed to UVU’s partnership with HeadCount, a nonprofit organization, for helping to promote registration on campus.
BYU is also participating in tabling events and free doughnuts. Rockwood said they are partnering up with other organizations on campus to promote registration at their events. There will be an expedition vote scavenger hunt organized by the lieutenant governor’s office.
Jones said that the students are “ready to be engaged. They’re ready to have a voice and participate in the process of electing our representatives.”
The office of the lieutenant governor said that during the first week of the 2026 competition, 2,178 voters registered for the first time or updated their registration. “This is more than one-fifth of the 10,752 total registrations collected across the whole 2024 contest.”
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