The presidential election in the U.S.—held every four years—is often a high-stakes and heavily contested one, with campaign teams working furtively round-the-clock to rally support for their candidates and their beliefs. Debates become heated, supporters become passionate and candidates themselves are pounding the campaign trail to promote their party.
Elections like these often decide the direction of policy for the succeeding four to eight years in the U.S.—a newly elected president can make changes to almost every aspect of life in this country from economic law to human rights. This year’s candidates in particular are on polar opposite sides of the political party spectrum, and have sparred on numerous widely argued issues over the past few months.
Many of these policies particularly affect youth and young adults, as they form some of the most newly minted stakeholders in the U.S.’ rapidly expanding society and stand to inherit the country’s helm at one of its most divisive points in recent history.
However, even with political fault lines cracking open and protests erupting throughout the nation, the youth (in particular those ages 18 to 29) still form a disproportionately low number of eligible voters who consistently cast a ballot in America’s elections—Tufts University’s CIRCLE Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement estimates that only about half showed up to the polls in 2020. While this is a significant improvement over its claims of 2016’s 39 percent, it is still measly compared to nonprofit USAFacts’ estimate of turnout as high as 72 percent among seniors 65 and older. For this reason (among others), it has become especially important that youth play a part in their democracy now more than ever.
A voter turnout statistic from the American think tank Brookings Institution on one of the slides from DSVP’s presentation. Image courtesy of Sabr Keres-Siddiqui.
Drew University’s Student Voter Project has been working to ensure maximum youth voter turnout ahead of this year’s presidential election in November, giving presentations to classes by day and tabling events by night. Collaborating with professors in political science and other departments to spread awareness of the importance and stakes of each student’s vote in making a difference to their community, DSVP visits classes throughout Drew to give presentations on how they can make their voices heard.
DSVP uses a slide deck during presentations which highlights important issues in democracy today, such as inflation and extremism. The slide deck also includes information on voting and voter-age statistics, as well as deadlines and resources for online voter registration by state. Audiences can scan QR codes to be led to voter resources such as vote.org and the New Jersey Department of Elections’ Voter Information Portal. The QR codes also include a direct link to register to vote online in New Jersey, as well as a guide to find an in-person voting place or the forms to apply for a mail in a ballot.
Students can also register for the 2024 New Jersey Ballot Bowl through the presentation, supporting Drew and pledging to vote with the option of persuading friends or family to vote as well. DSVP President Natali Amaro (’27) describes the N.J. Ballot Bowl in the presentation as “a state-wide non-partisan voter registration and engagement competition led by and for students.” Students are also incentivised during the presentations by the offer of candy or stickers of their choice in return for registering to vote and signing up for the Ballot Bowl while the presenter is there.
Volunteer Presenter and Political Science major James Dempsey (’27) highlighted the potential for every vote to make a difference, citing that former President Ronald Reagan’s 1984 “landslide victory…only took 58% [of the popular vote]…to win every single state besides Minnesota.” Reagan’s victory came from only 60 percent of general eligible voter turnout. Dempsey also stated that “voting rates have dropped over time to the point that your vote is [sic] basically doubled in power.”
Also emphasizing the power and unpredictability of swing states, Dempsey said that “most red/blue states are not that entrenched…so voting is important”—states that are popularly considered to be deeply Democratic or deeply Republican are often more politically volatile than many might think, with the potential always being there to suddenly jump party lines.
Amaro went into further detail about DSVP’s mission, stating that the organization “encourages students to vote by giving them the knowledge and tools to do so.” She added that the organization being student-led enables it to “connect on issues that make it so important to vote” on a deeper level with the other students in its audience. In addition, she also said that DSVP “create[s] a safe space for students to not feel judged about who they’re voting for by educating them in the same way we would normally engage in conversation…just giving them the basic information on how an election functions.”
Amaro also emphasized that voting is important beyond just general presidential elections, and that civic engagement starts at a local level—highlighting that the mayor, council and other municipal and state government officials are most often the ones who actually decide policies that affect individual citizens. Therefore, she says, it’s vital that people engage not just with larger, federal or state elections but also with smaller ones such as for their mayor or school board—local change starts on the ground.
DSVP has reached almost 600 total students in their classrooms with presentations, and plans to table events around campus as well to raise awareness in the next month until the elections. Election day this year will be on Tuesday, Nov. 5.
Disclaimer: Sabr Keres-Siddiqui serves on the board of DSVP as the Volunteer Coordinator for the organization. Any views expressed are their own.
Sabr Keres-Siddiqui is a sophomore majoring in sociology, minoring in journalism.
Featured Image of The Drew Student Voter Project Logo. Image courtesy of DSVP on the Path.
