“We need to increase voter turnout, especially among young people,” is an age-old refrain from nearly every campaign manager and candidate. While youth participation has risen in recent years, voters between the ages of 18 and 22 still consistently have some of the lowest turnout rates. This group’s turnout often ranges from 30% to 40%, compared to 50% to 70% among older populations. More specifically, there was only 47% youth voter turnout in the 2024 election. While this figure is much higher than the 39% of youth who voted in the 2016 election, it remains below the historically high youth turnout of 50% in 2020 and is still low compared to other age groups. For decades, politicians and campaigns have pondered the root of this problem. Do young people simply not care? How do we make them care? How should we speak to them?
As a college student myself, my hypothesis is simpler: it is not that college-aged students don’t care, it is that voting is unnecessarily difficult. Many students must either request and return an absentee ballot by mail, which takes early planning and follow-through, or change their voter registration address, locate a nearby polling place, and arrange transportation. These steps can be especially challenging to follow for students juggling heavy coursework and lacking access to private transportation.
To meaningfully increase youth turnout, we must meet students where they are: on campus. Colleges and universities should serve as voting sites. Some schools have already taken this step; for example, the Andrew Goodman Foundation’s Vote Everywhere program has helped bring polling stations to some campuses. Research on this program found that in 2018, campuses with on-campus polling places were correlated with a voting rate increase of 5.3 percentage points. But for true equitable representation, all colleges must take action.
In the weeks leading up to elections, universities should host information tables, email instructions to student bodies, and ask professors to remind students about how to register or change their voting address. On Election Day, having a polling place on campus would alleviate logistical barriers. Instead of navigating mail delays or distant polling stations, students could simply stop by a voting booth they already pass on their daily walk to class.
More concretely, there are several steps college campuses can take to secure polling places on campus. First, administrators must decide whether to establish an early voting site, which operates for several days before the election, or an Election Day polling place, open solely on Election Day. Early voting sites are especially valuable for campuses with many commuters or geographically dispersed students, since they provide multiple days to cast a ballot. Election Day polling places, on the other hand, work well for campuses with large numbers of students living in dorms or concentrated housing, where many can reach a single site on the same day.
Next, colleges should identify any preexisting polling places serving their students and identify any remaining gaps. Then, they must review local requirements for polling sites, including rules about location types, voter capacity, Americans with Disabilities Act accessibility, and technology compliance. Finally, campus officials should contact the local election authority to confirm whether their campus can host a polling place and, if so, coordinate the process of establishing one.
However, institutions should also anticipate challenges along the way. Establishing a new polling place is an extensive process that requires early planning and strong relationships with local election officials, who have the authority to approve an on-campus site. For instance, under New York Election Law §4-104, the Board of Elections, in consultation with municipalities, must designate locations in each election district for voter registration meetings and polling places. These designations must be made by March 15 and remain in effect for one year, and include locations with suitable rooms for voting. Students and student organizations should also take an active role, advocating for more accessible polling locations and collaborating with campus administrators and election officials to advance these efforts. Campus voting groups, such as Cornell Votes in Ithaca, can be particularly effective by both mobilizing the student body and serving as a concrete student voice when engaging with administrators and election officials.
Elected officials have started taking concrete steps to boost young voter turnout, highlighting easy access as a barrier. In 2022, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed a law requiring campuses with at least 300 registered voters living on campus and registered at that address to host a polling place. Yet, as of 2024, at least 20 New York colleges still lacked one. To make real progress, policymakers must expand, adopt, and enforce laws like this to ensure equitable access to voting. A real democracy ensures that voting is easy and accessible for everyone, so every voice can be heard. Young people are the future, and our democracy depends on their voices being heard.
Photo Credit
Tim Evanson, CC 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
