Colleges Should Engage Students Beyond Presidential Elections

Across the country colleges and universities were busy this semester registering and engaging student voters for the Presidential election. Despite such efforts, youth turnout, even in Presidential elections, is low. An estimated 50% of young people aged 18-29 voted in the 2016 general election. Turn your attention to midterm elections, and the picture is even bleaker. In the 2014 midterm elections, only about 20% voted, the lowest youth turnout rate ever recorded in a federal election. Colleges and universities have an important role to play in preparing students to be active, engaged citizens and encouraging voting in every election is a fundamental step.

Why Youth Voting Matters

This pattern of low turnout during non-Presidential elections is concerning for a number of reasons. Most immediately, it matters because local, state and federal representatives matter. U.S. Presidents cannot unilaterally enact their campaign promises. Congress passes laws, creates budgets, and confirms critical appointments. After receiving huge support from young people in the 2008 election, Barack Obama saw many of his efforts blocked by a Republican Congress following midterm elections in which most young people did not participate. Important policies are also set at the state and local level.

In addition, elected officials pay the most attention to people who vote. Politicians show great support for programs such as Social Security and Medicare, in part because older adults vote at very high rates. Young people staying home on Election Day are effectively taking themselves, and issues they care about, off the radar of elected officials.

Finally, voting is habit forming. Youth who vote at 18 are more likely to vote throughout their lives, so efforts to increase turnout among young people will have a long-term effect on increasing democratic engagement.

Why Don’t Young People Vote?

There are three major reasons why young people turn out in low numbers in non-Presidential elections. The trend can be explained at least in part by the fact that less effort and resources are devoted to engaging voters in those elections.

First, young people are more likely to vote when someone asks them to and when they have information about voting procedures. Second, we know that young people who are registered to vote, turn out at very high rates. Therefore, part of the reason we see lower turnout during non-Presidential elections is that there are fewer efforts to register and engage young people in these elections.

Third, young people do not feel knowledgeable about issues and candidates and may have a hard time accessing the information they want. Young people who have discussed political events and issues are more likely to vote and young people care about policy positions. But for some election cycles, young people may have heard nothing about the candidates, or only heard negative campaign ads.

What Works to Increase Youth Voting Rates

The good news is that if colleges put the same energy into voter engagement during non-Presidential elections, there is good reason to think that students will turn out in higher numbers. At Binghamton University’s on-campus polling site, turnout in the 2015 general election was five times higher than in 2011, due largely to coordinated voter engagement efforts that began in 2012.

• Make registering easy. Effective strategies for voter registration include giving students forms during orientation, move in, or course registration, partnering with student groups for outreach campaigns and sending email reminders to the student body.
• Provide information on how and where to vote. Send campus-wide emails to help students find their polling place or request an absentee ballot.
• Provide students easy access to nonpartisan candidate information. Send candidates questionnaires on issues of importance to students, and publicize responses widely. Invite candidates to campus for forums or debates, or host them on the college radio station.  

Every day in my work with students, I am inspired by young people who care greatly about making the world a better place. These students, like many millennials, are concerned about social issues and chose to engage creating positive change in a variety of ways. By making voting easy and demonstrating how students can make an impact through the formal political process, this energy can be used to encourage young people to make their voice heard in every election.