BENTON HARBOR — Southwest Michigan students took efforts in the last year to make their voices heard through voting.

A national report released on Sept. 20 shows that voting among Lake Michigan College students doubled in just four years, with participation rates increasing from 17 percent in the 2014 midterm election, to 35.2 percent in 2018.

LMC is on-trend with a widespread national increase, with the average student voting rate up nearly 20 percentage points among participating schools, from 19.7 percent, to 39.1 percent.

The report was from the National Study of Learning, Voting and Engagement conducted by the Institute for Democracy and Higher Education. It was based on the voting records of more than 10 million students at more than 1,000 colleges and universities in all 50 states.

The report is used by participating colleges and universities to support political learning and civic engagement, and identify and address gaps in political and civic participation. The full report can be viewed on LMC’s website.

The increase at LMC is partially credited to its LMC Votes Campaign, a non-partisan initiative facilitated by LMC political science professor, Dr. Tiffany Bohm, school officials said. Bohm began teaching a campaigns and elections course where students engaged the LMC student and employee community to register and vote in the November 2018 election.

The South Haven chapter of the American Association of University Women and the League of Women Voters of Berrien and Cass County provided assistance with the campaign. On Tuesday, representatives from the league will help visitors register to vote outside LMC’s Benton Harbor campus bookstore from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in honor of National Voter Registration Day.

“This truly was a community-wide, multi-campus initiative to inform, educate and engage our population in the democratic process. It was a monumental achievement to double our voter rate at Lake Michigan College,” Bohm said.