NORMAL, IL—The sound of a black sharpie circling a choice on the ballot, whispers and murmurs between election judges and voters, the mechanical whirring of the ballot machine as another sheet is sucked in to be counted; are all typical noises of a polling place on Election Day. But one specific piece is missing: a lack of young people playing their part in the process.
“I don’t think young people like to vote at all,” says 20-year-old Sam Majka, “It seems to be a generational trend where young people are becoming more and more distanced from politics.” Majka, an Illinois State University political science major considers himself to be an outsider from his own age demographic in terms of civic engagement. He first voted during the 2020 General Election between incumbent President Donald Trump and his triumphant competitor Joe Biden.
The Center For Information & Research On Civic Learning and Engagement reported that roughly 50 percent of Americans aged 18 to 29 voted in 2020, an 11-point increase from the 2016 election. But, compared to much higher turnouts from senior citizens, voter participation among young people is remarkably low. This phenomenon could have some merit considering engagement between politicians and this under-represented demographic.
“I think politicians know that young people don’t vote so they specifically don’t target them. On college campuses, Democrats definitely target students more than Republicans, but a lot of campaigns like to focus more on adults rather than students,” Majka says. So, the question stands: how do you get students to come out and vote?
At ISU, the Center for Civic Engagement seeks to overcome this issue. Graduate Assistant for Civic Education and Political Engagement Joshua Crockett says, “We have a team of nine people, including myself, who are solely focused on the election…we table almost every day around campus to register students to vote, share important election information regarding where, when and how folks can vote, give class presentations and share information through social media and other digital communication.”
Civic engagement is one of the seven core values of ISU, and the Center ultimately works to uphold this with a motivated and strategic effort. Crockett says, “We have a holistic view of what it’s going to take to get students involved…we get to offer coordination to those efforts.”
While the Center works for the cause of civic and political engagement, the root of the problem begins with the individual. Majka says, “Most students don’t see what they’re getting out of it and especially in the modern day, people are becoming more and more polarized and are starting to hate politics. Maybe that’s turning people off.”
ISU and McLean County offers a very simple way of registering to vote. “Registering to vote here in McLean County is simple. There is a website where you put in your information, and you receive your registration slip in the mail. I feel like students don’t think that they themselves and their issues matter to politicians,” Majka says.
Another factor on low student turnout could possibly be that students don’t pay attention to the issues and elections that occur around the campus community. Often, students at ISU are not native to the greater Bloomington-Normal area and don’t consider how local elections affect them. But with emerging economic developments in the area with companies such as Rivian Automotive, Inc., as well as some tightly contested political races, Bloomington-Normal is on the rise in several different areas.
“People are moving [to Bloomington-Normal] by the thousands. As a student that lives in BloNo, local politics affects me directly and students have the opportunity to change the landscape if they choose to do so,” Majka says.
Majka believes that everyone, including students care about issues that affect them. But students may not understand how some of these issues are related to politics and government. Crockett says, “We are all experts about our own lives, I think it’s important that students show up and get involved so policies start to change…it’s important to show students that whatever they study is intertwined with politics.”
Health and sciences students may care about public health, journalism students may care about their rights as reporters, business students may care about the ways in which companies succeed or fail. These issues are impacted by politics and the Center for Civic Engagement works to show students how this works through conversation and class presentations.
While the trend of low voter turnout among students and young people is still low, Majka is optimistic on how this could change. “I know we have students in McLean County who are running and have run for office. I think that’s great, and we need more of that to engage students and make them feel like they have skin in the game,” Majka says, “If we do this, we can get young Americans to come back to the polls every cycle. Getting people to be civically engaged, that is the goal.”
Leave a Reply