Colorado State University is hosting the upcoming Rocky Mountain Showdown for the first time since 1996, and in a show of friendly rivalry with the University of Colorado Boulder, both student governments have collaborated to organize a voter registration competition.

The competition incentivizes students to participate by focusing on an elusive prize: Students from the winning school — whoever has the most registered voters — will have a chance to win sideline passes to the game.

“Everyone wins when we’re civically engaged and when more people vote. But in regard to this competition, we’re going to beat CU,” – ASCSU President Nick DeSalvo.

Associated Students of CSU President Nick DeSalvo discussed the intention behind the competition and what he hopes will play out.

“This is a massive voter registration initiative we’re not only doing leading up to the Showdown, but from now until November, … we thought the Showdown was a really great opportunity to kind of tap into the theme of rivalry we have with CU,” DeSalvo said.

The CU Boulder Student Government functions differently from ASCSU — rather than having one president, there are three. Despite organizational differences, the executive branches at each school came together to work on the initiative with a common goal of engaging each student population in the voting process. One CUSG president, Alex Radz, spoke about the collaboration and significance of the event at CU.

“I haven’t heard of any other school doing something like this,” Radz said. “It’s pretty cool that we’re able to use our rivalry in a really positive, impactful way. (In) 2020, we had about, I guess, 81% voter turnout, which is extremely high, and I think we can get that even higher.”

Leadership at CSU has also been involved with the competition, including President Amy Parsons, who provided insight into the goal of civic engagement at the university and beyond.

“Our students represent the future of democracy,” Parsons said in a statement. “It is CSU’s responsibility to inspire our university community to participate in democracy and to exercise their civic engagement muscles. Voting is the foundation of democracy and a great privilege of living in a democratic society.”

Connecting the voter registration competition with the Rocky Mountain Showdown puts more attention on the initiative itself. With tickets to the game sold out when the competition was announced, students at both schools who were unable to secure tickets now have a chance to attend.

“The ASCSU-led student voter challenge against CU gives students a chance to win Showdown sideline tickets and get ready to vote,” Parsons said. “Last year, nearly three-quarters of eligible CSU students voted. This year, we can’t wait to get even more students acting on their civic responsibility.”

Historically, Colorado has seen good turnout among college-aged voters and has shown an increased turnout in recent elections. According to the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, Colorado had over 30% voter turnout from those aged 18-29 in the 2022 midterm election.

Voter engagement at CSU specifically has improved in recent years. A 2019 CSU SOURCE article discussed how student votes increased from 37.2% in 2014 to 50.8% in 2018.

While this initiative only applies to individuals who are eligible to vote at each university, DeSalvo underscored the importance of acknowledging the population of voting-age students who are unable to vote.

“We have international students on this campus, and we have undocumented students on this campus, and this voter registration thing doesn’t necessarily apply to them, but civic engagement largely does,” DeSalvo said. “Civic engagement doesn’t begin with voting, and it doesn’t stop with voting.”

DeSalvo highlighted how the upcoming Showdown is not just an opportunity for a friendly school rivalry but a higher voter turnout all around.

“Everyone wins when we’re civically engaged and when more people vote,” DeSalvo said. “But in regard to this competition, we’re going to beat CU.”

Reach Aubree Miller at news@collegian.com or on Instagram @aubree.miller07.