The vote in the council is more important – and more complicated

Helping students vote comes with challenges, especially amid the wave of restrictive voting measures in some states.

The midterm elections two years ago did not bring the massive “red wave” that Republicans were hoping for, and young voters were a big part of that.

Their increasing political reliability, which goes against long-held views, has been a clear priority for both parties in the weeks and months leading up to Tuesday’s general election. The trend could play a decisive role in the presidential contest and down-ballot races that could determine which party has control of Congress.

College-age voters are traditionally considered less trustworthy than other voting blocs. That was until 2020, after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and following a nationwide racial reckoning, when half of the 18- to 29-year-old voting population turned out, signaling what an analysis from Tufts University “Probably one of the highest rates of electoral participation among young people since the voting age was lowered to 18.” Two years later, the same group of voters had a “decisive impact” in key swing-state races, Also found tufts.

In other words, young voters are no longer as fickle as they used to be. But those rising turnout numbers have come amid complications.

Since 2020, at least 30 states have passed dozens of restrictive voting laws, with 18 introduced this year, the independent said. Brennan Center for Justice. Many of these measures impact college students, the majority of whom may not be aware that their universities have a legal obligation to make it easier for them to register to vote.

Although younger voters tend to be more left-leaning than older ones, the anti-war protests that swept college campuses this year have shown how frustrated many young voters are with the Democratic establishment’s handling of the war in Gaza. Some students have joined the so-called “casual movement,” which dealt a small — but not insignificant — blow to President Joe Biden’s primary victory. Opinion polls The photos taken before Vice President Kamala Harris entered the race showed Democrats seeing a troubling gap in enthusiasm anchored by young voters.

Outside the campaign, Republicans have taken umbrage with the Biden administration’s guidelines February that says nonpartisan get-out-the-vote efforts qualify for federal work-study, a government program that helps lower-income students pay tuition and fees with part-time jobs. The GOPs frustration The directive highlights how fearful some politicians are about the prospect of wider student participation in the political process.

The Harris and Trump campaigns are well aware of the new voting potential of young Americans, said Charles Bullock, a political science professor at the University of Georgia.

“In toss-up states like Georgia, I feel like there has never been more of an effort to reach young voters,” he said.

Youth voting is increasing, changing historical trends

As the 2020 presidential election approached, Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg became concerned. She and her colleagues at CIRCLE, a social research center she has has led for the past ten years at Tufts University in Boston, watched as the pandemic shutdowns upended the primaries that spring.

They were concerned because, as they eventually wrote in a research report“the necessary level of institutional support for student voting seemed unattainable given the other pressures campuses face.”

Those concerns disappeared as unprecedented numbers poured in. The 2020 student turnout rate they ultimately calculated was 66%, based on data from more than 1,000 colleges and nearly nine million students, which is far higher than the 52% participation rate during the previous presidential election.

Despite the limitations of the time, the student vote finally became more like the national vote.

“That was really, really high participation,” she said.

Kawashima-Ginsberg noted that it is the job of universities to make voting accessible. It’s not just about encouraging community involvement; colleges are required by law to help students vote.

In 1998, Congress passed it almost unanimously legislationsigned by former President Bill Clinton, requiring schools to do more to help students vote. To remain compliant with federal law, schools must make a “good faith effort” to distribute voter registration forms, according to the American Council on Education, the leading advocacy group for colleges in Washington, DC.

“How institutions think they can interpret that today really seems to vary,” Kawashima-Ginsberg says.

Failure to comply with federal laws can have consequences, including the loss of federal funding.

Restrictive measures affect voting on campus

North Carolina is not only a swing state that could hand the presidency to Trump or Harris, but is also one of the states where restrictive measures have created additional barriers to students casting their ballots.

In 2018, the state legislature a law passed requiring North Carolina citizens to show physical identification cards to vote. The law was put on hold for several years until Republicans took a seat on the state Supreme Court let it continue in 2023.

The measure caused confusion on college campuses in October after the North Carolina Board of Elections ruled In a case involving the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, digital ID cards were found not to meet legal standards. Sam Hiner, a senior at UNC, said the eleventh-hour decision caused frustration for some students.

“That created a little bit of chaos around here,” he said. “Especially for out-of-state students, it caused them quite a bit of trouble.”

Students moving to new states have the right to vote where they attend school. say legal scholars. However, they do not always update their papers or ID cards, which can create additional obstacles for outsiders to verify their identity.

There appears to be dueling in some states, with some making it harder for students to vote and others expanding access to the ballot box, said Peter McDonough, the top attorney at the American Council on Education.

McDonough highlighted that 41 states, including some with a strong focus on election security, have passed comprehensive voting laws. Still, He said the stricter regulations have taken their toll.

Take Ohio: In January 2023The state’s governor, a Republican, has passed a law limiting the way out-of-state students can verify their identity to cast their votes. If students didn’t have a passport, military ID, Ohio driver’s license or Ohio-issued ID, they could be out of luck, McDonough said.

“What are you doing with that?” he said. “These are the challenges students face.”

In addition to regulations and laws, there are also other elements of student life that prevent students from voting. Young people often have hectic schedules, says Jack Lobel, national press secretary for Voters of Tomorrow, a youth-led political advocacy group. And they tend not to be as familiar as older adults with how voting works.

But this generation is different from the last, said Lobel, who is 20 and will vote in his first presidential election this year.

“As soon as Gen Z turned 18, we started ignoring youth voter trends,” he said. “Gen Z is showing up to vote against all odds.”

Zachary Schermele is an education reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach him by email at [email protected]. Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele.