Could college make voting as popular as going to football games?

The Hechinger Report

Olivia Sanchez

October 14, 2022

When colleges want students to go to a big football game, they invite them. They make big, fancy signs. They post colorful fliers on bulletin boards in every building. They post on social media, reminding them to attend.

To encourage students to vote, colleges might consider that same approach, said Sarah Batson, a senior at the University of Texas at Austin who chairs the national student advisory board for the nonprofit Campus Vote Project.

If colleges told students about the nearest ballot box or polling place and added nudges like, “We think that every student is going to vote there and we can’t wait to see you there,” Batson said, she thinks it would make a big difference.

“That is how the schools get students to go to games and to go to their own events and to participate in the community outside of campus,” Batson said. “And I think that excitement expressed by campus administrators will encourage them to make it a priority, or if not make it a priority, to consider how other students may already be doing that and how they could join in.”

Only about half of eligible voters ages 18 to 24 cast votes in the 2020 election, the lowest turnout by age group, according to the Census Bureau. Data shows that voter turnout tends to increase with age, income and education level.

College students are motivated to vote by empowering language and reminders of the power their collective vote can have, a recent survey by Campus Vote Project found, but inconvenience and a lack of information tend to deter them.

Campus Vote Project is a nonpartisan, nonprofit group that works to make voting more accessible to students. The survey results (collected at public and private four-year colleges and community colleges in August) are meant to act as a roadmap for college leaders and advocates to eliminate the logistical barriers young people face and help them realize that their vote matters, the report says.

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