With each presidential election comes a new generation of voters. Nonprofit organizations, like Rock the Vote, have been around for decades and seek to encourage young voters and underrepresented groups to take action, increasing voter turnout.
This year’s 2024 presidential election will see 40.8 million of the Generation Z demographic eligible to vote. Additionally, 8.3 million new voters are now eligible to vote, an increase from the 32.5 million Gen Z since the 2022 midterm elections.
In swing states, minorities make up a large population of new voters. 45% of Gen Z voters are people of color, with around 1.8 million multiracial youth, 1.7 million Asian Americans, 5.7 million Black youths and 8.8 million Latinos. And 47% of the newest eligible group of voters are people of color.
“Young people are more civically engaged than ever,” said Jessika Landon, an Emerson College senior film major and 18by Vote director of communications. “I think young people are tired, and they don’t feel heard.”
In years past, youth voter turnout has been lower than older generations; in the 2022 midterms, only 18% of the newly eligible voters in the age bracket of 18 to 19 years voted. Voter organizations are working overtime to change that generational disparity, encouraging youth voters to register and vote.
Over 500 organizations are working to increase the youth vote in this presidential election. Voter organizations like Youth Voter Movement mainly target high school students, while others like 18by Vote, Fair Election Center and Students Learn Students Vote Coalition specifically aim to involve college campuses.
One of the most popular methods used to target younger voters is social media. Voter organizations are using platforms like TikTok and Instagram to their advantage, capitalizing on existing trends to create social media campaigns, spread information and focus on user engagement and encouragement.
“I think social media is the number one way to get people engaged,” said Renée Diop, a University of California, Berkeley junior political science major. “If it’s not on your phone, Gen Z is not going to hear about it.”
Danny Fersh, communications director for the Students Learn Students Vote Coalition, is working with influencers to create a campaign called “National Voter Education Week.” The campaign will be broadcast through their social media account and focused on helping first-time voters prepare for the upcoming election.
“As a coalition, we are in all 50 states,” he said. “Our goal is 100% student voting in every single state.”
Other tactics include holding information sessions and registering students onsite. Youth Voter Movement, consisting of volunteers, go to high schools every two years to give a 55-minute presentation on the history and importance of voting and get 16 to 18 year-olds registered in Fremont, CA, Pleasanton, CA and Newark, CA.
According to YVM volunteer coordinator Valerie Stewart, around 80% of students register after following the presentation. After registration, YVM tries to stay in touch with students through debate watch parties and working on civic education issues.
In an effort to expand outreach at college campuses, YVM reached out to Diop, who had just held an independent voting registration workshop and civic education information session at her former community college, Ohlone College.
Diop worked with them, volunteering at high schools and introduced YVM to Ohlone College. With YVM, she held another event, enticing students with free food and bringing in guest speakers from the local community.
Activists like Diop and Fersh work to dispel the notion among Gen Z that a singular vote won’t count.
“We’ve seen a number of examples where elections are basically swung because students got really animated about getting out to vote and [...] made a difference,” Fersh said.
Kayley Marie Bell, history and political science junior at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and member of the Student Advisory Board for the Fair Election Center, noticed an information barrier, especially with students, due to the process being unfamiliar with the process. In order to combat this, she works to educate students on the types of documentation and other information needed to vote and holds voter registration events on her campus every week, leading up to Wisconsin’s Oct. 16 registration deadline.
“I utilize insult data [to get university] demographic information and turnout information,” Bell said. “Using that data to figure out what part of our student body is underserved and needs extra outreach is really important to making sure that we are strategically planning our efforts in a method that will meet as many students as possible.”
In the 2020 Presidential election, USC had a 74.3% voting rate, an increase of +20.0 since the 2016 election and about an 8% increase compared to the 66% voting rate of all institutions.
USC students reportedly have not been reached out to by any voter organizations. However, students like out-of-state student Aiko Abo Dominguez are doing everything they can to encourage others to register to vote.
“With this election coming up, it’s going to have large implications for the rest of our lives, [...] and I think it’s our civic duty to vote,” she said. “Lots of people have fought for us to have this right, so I think that we should practice it.”
Dominguez stressed the importance of voting, saying that voting is one of the easiest ways to influence politics. The junior set up a table at the Village crosswalk, ready and willing to talk to students about registering and clear up the confusion around mail-in ballots, absentee ballots, and general questions. She was prepared with her laptop to help students register and had flyers for the voting regulations in each state.
“As students, it’s very easy to just get fully invested in our studies and forget about the world we might have in politics and in voting, but it’s something that’s pretty easy for us to do,” she said.
Advice from activists to young voters:
Bell: I hope that people continue to be engaged and exercise their right, participate and fulfill their civic duty. If [people] ever feel confused or overwhelmed, there’s people [... and] organizational affiliations that are working to make things more accessible and less overwhelming for students.
Diop: If you’re a community college student, if you are a non-traditional student or just a young Gen Z, and you might not know a lot about politics, [...] I urge you to get involved. Look up how to vote. Look up the ballot measures in your area. Talk to people. [...] Just try to be engaged and stay active. Don’t let the repetitiveness of classes and work and all these things get in the way of you expanding your worldview.
Dominguez: I understand the hesitations like, ‘Oh, is this really going to change anything?’ but doing nothing certainly won’t change anything. So you might as well do something.
Fersh: Even if [your vote] is for a candidate or cause that ends up losing, the fact that a vote has been registered, that somebody has made their voice heard, [...] makes the people in charge more accountable to those voters. People in office will always listen to people who show up to vote much more than people who don’t, so there’s power, even in a losing vote.
Landon: If there’s a candidate, it is very unlikely that they will believe every single thing that you believe. I think that obviously you don’t settle, but be aware and have media literacy and understand what you’re voting for so that you can vote for the candidate who best reflects what you believe in.
Stewart: Democracy is not a spectator sport. It’s a participatory sport. [...]Don’t sell yourself short. You have influence. Know that you do and use your vote. [...] We are mighty, we are strong, but we gotta get off our butts, and we gotta vote.