by Tavion Davis
Three experts at the University of Nebraska at Omaha say they believe the 2020 Presidential Election is the year that we will see a higher youth voter turnout.
Voter participation, especially among younger voters, is important so age groups are not unfairly represented.
“Voter participation is how the preferences and voice of the people is communicated to elected officials,.” said Gregory Petrow, an associate professor of political behavior, “and so when fewer people participate in elections, the people with the most intense preferences have their voice heard disproportionately”
Petrow said older voters have a higher voter turnout because as they get older, they have stronger more well-formed partisan and ideological attitudes.
“One of the main causes of local participation is having stronger party identification,” Petrow said,” and younger people have weaker party identification.”
Among 18 to 29-year-olds voter turnout went from 20 percent in 2014 to 36 percent in 2018, according to the United States Census Bureau. This was a 79 percent jump, the largest percentage point increase for any age group.
Mars Nevada, a former member of UNO College Democrat’s, said the rise in youth voter participation is because we are seeing a lot more opportunities for youth engagement and getting engaged in politics.
“There were a lot of structures that emerged after the Parkland shooting, like March for Our Lives and Sunrise, that really provided networks and structures for youths to get engaged in material ways,” Nevada said.
As a former member of UNO’s College Democrats Nevada has had experience with trying to increase youth voter turnout on campus.
“We would sit in Milo Bail and ask people if they are registered to vote, and if they weren’t we would either help them do it via paperwork.” Nevada said,”or we set up sort of a laptop where they can do it online via the Douglas County Election Commission.”
When the pandemic hit, College Democrats shifted their focus to asking students to phone and text bank to limit face-to-face contact while still encouraging students to take voting seriously.
Text banking is sending messages out to potential voters with information on upcoming elections, information on candidates, bills, and ballot initiatives, according to Demand the Vote. Phone banking is the same thing but via call rather than text.
Barbara Pickering, assistant director of the School of Communication and a professor of political communication, said over the past 10 years there have been several things that happened that have increased the way we can register voters.
For example, UNO is using a program called TurboVote, which allows you to register online. A change from years past where people would have to physically register on paper at a voter registration event.
“There are a whole host of organizations that have sprung up really to try and mobilize young voters,” Pickering said.
Pickering said in the state of Nebraska we have Civic Nebraska, which is an organization devoted to the idea of encouraging young voters to participate.
“I think the key thing though is an educational process, and it needs to happen very early before college-age students,” She said. “Educating people about the importance of your vote and why it matters at a middle school level and certainly at a high school level.”
Pickering said it is important for younger voters to make their voices be heard so that election officials will listen.
“I think regardless of whether the outcome is what you hope it to be, your voice is still really important.” Pickering said. “So, I would encourage people, at this point, go to the polls.”
