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Clarissa Unger

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    Voting

    The student vote provides an important roadmap for democracy and higher education

    Clarissa Unger
    Manny Rin
    December 05, 2022
    Students register to vote

    Students at the University of Vermont fill out voter registration forms to participate in the March 2020 primary.

    Alex Wong/Getty Images

    Unger is co-founder and executive director of the Students Learn Students Vote Coalition. Rin directs the Student PIRGs New Voters Project.

    According to all available evidence, youth and college student voters turned out in force this election cycle, making a decisive impact on the 2022 midterms. While those results exceeded public expectations, they came as no surprise to organizers who work closely with the youth vote – especially those on college campuses, where the story of the student vote may offer a roadmap to strengthening democratic participation across the board.

    After decades of underperformance, by any objective measure, college student voter turnout exploded over the 2018 and 2020 federal election cycles, significantlyoutpacing turnout growth among the overall electorate – and they appear to have sustained high turnout levels in 2022. Student voters achieved this new normal despite often facing logistical obstacles due to complicated housing situations, psychological obstacles as first-time voters, and systemic barriers due to policies that seek to block or dilute their vote – not to mention the unprecedented circumstances brought on by the continued Covid-19 pandemic.

    We’ve spent much of our careers working to grow the college student vote, and supporting youth voter engagement on both the local and national levels. We can say with confidence that this level of accelerated growth in voter participation could not have happened without sustained engagement through a local-first, nonpartisan approach that focused resources on grassroots efforts to engage voters in their communities and on their terms, with national organizations playing a crucial role of support and coordination.

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    Voting

    College campuses can be the staging ground for a democratic revitalization

    Clarissa Unger
    August 09, 2022
    College student voting

    College students arrive to vote at Appalachian State University during the 2020 general election.

    Brian Blanco/Getty Images

    Unger is co-founder and executive director of the Students Learn Students Vote Coalition.

    On July 11, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Nikema Williams introduced the Youth Voting Rights Act, which if enacted would be perhaps the most significant expansion of voting access for young people in more than 50 years. It’s the second major action intended to make voting easier for young people, including and especially college students, in just the past few months, following an April Dear Colleague letter from the Department of Education to every college campus in the United States reminding them of their obligation under the Higher Education Act to conduct voter registration efforts at their institutions.

    To be clear, both actions were taken separately, by different public officials in different branches of the federal government. But their proximity in timing is no coincidence. There is a burgeoning student vote movement on college campuses throughout the country – one that could help revitalize U.S. democracy. And national leaders are beginning to notice.

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