Across campus, a dedicated group of staff, students, and faculty have been leading efforts to inspire the community to be actively engaged in our democracy through a variety of get-out-the-vote campaigns.
Now, some of the hard work is being recognized with two awards.
‘Ballot Bowl’
Stanford received an award for registering the highest number of students to vote in the 2024 California University and College Ballot Bowl, a competition organized by the California Secretary of State’s office to encourage democratic participation.
Co-chairs of StanfordVotes, a nonpartisan student organization that was launched in 2018 to help boost voter turnout at Stanford – Aubrey Merrill, ’26, and Dylan Vergara, ’26 – accepted the award presented by California Secretary of State Shirley Weber in a virtual ceremony held March 3.
“College campuses are critical grounds for inspiring the next generation of public service leaders,” Merrill said when accepting the award.
In 2024, StanfordVotes led a variety of efforts to boost voter registration and turnout, including working with four other student organizations to organize Stanford Democracy Day, an academic holiday and “civic celebration” at Stanford that encourages students to participate in democratic processes. On Democracy Day, there is a variety of programming offered across campus, including faculty panels, watch parties, and other mixers, all designed to garner excitement around the election.
Outside of Democracy Day, some of StanfordVotes' other efforts included providing students with a 50-state voting guide. They also organized a variety of events ahead of the election, including partnering with Students in Government (SIG) to host a trivia night for students to show off their political knowledge. They continue to hold events to help students think about ways to remain civically engaged beyond elections.
In their remarks, Merrill and Vergara recognized how Stanford was able to register such a high number of voters because of a commitment across campus to support democratic processes. They recognized the Stanford University Office of the Registrar, which they coordinated with to implement a hold on enrollment until students acknowledged a recommendation to register to vote. They also thanked other students, staff, and faculty for bringing energy and enthusiasm, as well as support from groups like the Stanford Democracy Hub.
“Now more than ever, colleges and universities need to come together to educate, cultivate, and integrate a culture of civic engagement nationwide,” Vergara said.
StanfordVotes was also recognized in 2022 for some of this work.
ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge
Stanford was also recognized with an award in the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge, an initiative to empower colleges and universities to strengthen democratic engagement on their campuses.
Associate basketball coach Eric Reveno was recognized with a 2025 Standout Coach Award for his work supporting student-athletes with nonpartisan resources to register and turnout to vote. Previously, Reveno helped create the NCAA “All Vote No Play” effort, ensuring his Stanford players are ready to vote.
“Voting is a core requirement to shaping the future you want. It’s part of being a great teammate,” Reveno told Stanford Report last year. “We teach about playing basketball but also sleep, nutrition, mental health, and financial literacy – voting must be on that list.”
Reveno also collaborated with the Democracy Day committee to create a civic celebration with voting information at the basketball game between Stanford and the University of Denver on the eve of the election.
At the Ballot Bowl ceremony, Vergara acknowledged their collaboration with Reveno.
“Associate coach Eric Reveno played a crucial role in asserting and assisting us in engaging with students who are often left out of the conversation surrounding civic engagement,” Vergara said.
