Common Cause: Protecting student voice in our democracy

By Will Brummett, Director of Student Engagement

At Campus Compact, we deeply believe voting is one of the ways that students can act as leaders and contributors to our democracy. With every election cycle, student voter turnout is a complex and critical factor in determining election outcomes on a local, state, and federal level, but this election cycle has its own particular challenges that students face. Rather than an editorial, in this Common Cause, we wanted to share directly from students about this election, voting, and what it means to them:

“One of our greatest rights in this country is that we are able to have our voices heard. Especially for the younger population, representation is historically limited so voting efforts on college campuses are essential for proper representation. Some of the coolest interactions I’ve seen are between students inviting each other to walk to the polls together. It is amazing to see students exercise their right to vote together.”
Amelia Stoner, James Madison University
Hear more from Amelia on this segment from JMU’s Breeze TV

“Students should care about voting because the issues that are important to us will not be addressed as long as we continue to vote in low numbers. Politicians are less inclined to care about issues that we care about because our generation does not vote. If we were to show up in large numbers to the polls, we could see significant changes.”
Jakob  Burdick, University of Dayton
Watch Jakob’s TEDx talk on college-age voters

”I have been told three times now that ‘this is the most consequential election of our lifetime,’ starting back in 2016. While campaigns announce ambitious policies, I doubt I’ll see the impact of them. The emergence of ideology in parties has made legislative policy achievements nigh impossible. All of the answers to these problems elude me, but I am twenty years old and not an elected official. There has to be a better way, but I see no one proposing one. I may reluctantly cast my ballot this election season, and every candidate I support may win, but I do not expect anything to improve. I, and I believe many young people, want the chance to vote in a different election”
Trevor Hennebery, University of Maryland

On this National Voter Registration Day, we hope this inspires you to ask and amplify student voices on your own campus, and we hope you check out our new election collection hub for further resources to expand student voter turnout on your campus.

Student voting in practice

Read these stories from across the country that illustrate the different ways institutions and students are getting engaged in the upcoming election.