How to Get College Students to Vote

Tim Cook for The Chronicle

Younger generations make up a majority of voting-eligible adults in the United States, but they cast a minority of votes. In the last midterm elections, in 2014, only 18 percent of undergraduate and graduate students voted. Turnout rates for young people have consistently been lower than for older citizens since the Census Bureau began tracking voter turnout in 1964.

With 20 million potential voters in college, campus leaders have an opportunity — actually, a civic responsibility — to boost participation of this crucial segment of the electorate. This is a two-step process. Step 1 is short term: helping students to overcome the registration barriers that exist in many states. Step 2 is long term: pursuing a year-round, campus-wide strategy for cultivating democratic engagement.

Most states require voters to register in advance of Election Day. Data suggest that classroom registration drives work to register voters and to boost voter turnout. In 2016, Elizabeth Bennion and David Nickerson published an article documenting the effects of a nationwide classroom registration experiment. The study found that registration increased by six percentage points, and voting increased by 2.6 percentage points, as a result of a 10-minute classroom-based registration drive.

The research did not reveal any statistically significant difference in the effectiveness of professor and peer presenters. Campuses can, therefore, reach prospective voters through a combination of faculty presentations and peer outreach efforts. The act of conducting the registration drive to a semi-captive classroom audience matters more than the authority of the person making the presentation. Further, the research generates the following list of best practices:

• Conduct the registration at the beginning of class when students are paying closest attention.
• Rather than asking students to raise their hands if they need a registration form, place forms on every student’s desk, regardless of registration status.
• Remind students that they need to re-register if they have moved since the last time they voted and also note any recent voter purges in the state.
• Review the forms for registration requirements (e.g. U.S. citizenship and age stipulations), while also answering common questions (e.g. whether 17-year-olds can register to vote or participate in the primary elections). State-by-state differences in registration requirements (including the pre-registration requirement itself) can also be discussed as a way to engage all students in the presentation.

The actual script is less important than the captive audience. Successful approaches have included: stating the college’s conviction that all eligible students should make their voices heard on Election Day, discussing the difficulty of creating a “representative democracy” if the majority of people don’t vote, and stressing the potential clout of young voters and explaining that their collective power will never be realized if they continue to vote at lower rates than any other age cohort.

Focusing on issues can also be a powerful motivator. Asking what issues students care about and then explaining how the offices on the ballot affect those issues can be useful in convincing new voters that politics matters to their lives.

Building registration into classrooms across campus on a voluntary basis, along with integrating it as a required component of the freshman seminar or first-year experience program, is an excellent way to ensure that all students have the time and support they need to register to vote. New-student orientation sessions and move-in days offer an opportunity to introduce voter registration when students are paying attention and actively engaging with their peers and university employees.

In 2016 Northwestern University introduced an ambitious effort in which students have one-on-one, peer-to-peer conversations with every new student, with the aim of making sure they are registered and will vote. The university built this program into every “welcome station” on student move-in day. As a result, 95 percent of students who were eligible registered to vote, either in the precincts around Northwestern or as absentee voters in their home towns. Before the program, in 2012, the university’s students had a turnout rate of 49 percent; once the program was instituted in 2016, turnout jumped to 64 percent, far exceeding the national average of 31 percent among youth and the 58 percent average among all age groups. Other campuses implementing their model are finding similar success.

Many colleges are interested in pursuing a year-round approach to shaping campus culture in ways that promote long-term civic learning and democratic engagement. Nancy Thomas and Margaret Brower introduced a “Politics 365" model that calls for “attention to improving the campus environment as a means to increasing the pervasiveness and effectiveness of student development for civic engagement, political activism, and social action.” As the name suggests, the model promotes civic learning year-round, rather than efforts that are episodic and tied narrowly to election-season efforts to mobilize student voters.

The Politics 365 model is based on a 2013-2014 case study of five colleges and universities with voter turnout rates between five and 20 percentage points higher than predicted (“positive outliers”) as well as two campuses with voting rates seven percentage points (or more) lower than predicted (“negative outliers”). The goal of the project was to identify common attributes that foster political learning and engagement.

Positive-outlier campuses are characterized by strong interpersonal relationships between faculty and students, an institutional concern for student well-being, peer-to-peer support, and community support. They have a diverse student population coupled with a strong institutional commitment to promote social mobility and equal opportunity. These colleges share power and responsibility with students, treating them as valued colleagues with decision-making authority. Campus leaders also show support for political action, both during and between elections. Moreover, they are places where students, faculty, and staff exchange a diversity of perspectives, especially around policy questions and political issues.

These best practices for generating a culture of civic learning and democratic engagement are powerful tools for increasing voter turnout among college students while developing habits of political participation that extend beyond Election Day. With just a few nudges and a little leadership, college faculty and administrators can generate significant increases in student participation that allow students to make their voices heard and encourage them to take an active role in shaping their own future.

Elizabeth A. Bennion is professor of political science and director of the American Democracy Project at Indiana University at South Bend. Melissa R. Michelson is professor of political science at Menlo College, in Atherton, Calif.