For decades, young voter turnout has been a glaring deficit in U.S. elections, Gen Z voters are aiming to break this tradition for the 2024 presidential election.
Historically, voters under the age of 30 have shown up at the polls in smaller numbers than their older counterparts, yet young voters are ensuring their voices are heard. According to Tufts University, 50% of young people ages 18-29 voted in the 2020 presidential election, a remarkable 11-point increase from 2016 (39%), marking one of the highest young voter turnout since the voting age was lowered to 18 in 1971.
As midterm and general elections approach, Gen Z is demonstrating that while young voters have not had many elections to vote in, they are now emerging as a powerful political force.
Christian Lindke, a political science professor at Boise State University explained that young voters are often excluded from campaign efforts.
“And when you really look at young politics, one of the things you’ll notice is nobody asks young people to vote,” Lindke said.
Requesting a ballot and ensuring a vote is cast by election day on Nov. 5 is not necessarily a simple task, yet with the right information any legal adult can vote.
“Students do need to be informed,” Martin Orr, a sociology professor at Boise State University said. “If students are from out of state, they need to be informed as to what their rights are with regard to can they vote in their home state, or can they vote in Idaho? What are the residency requirements there? You know if they’re going to be voting in a state other than Idaho?”
Kamala Harris, Donald Trump, Cornel West, Jill Stein and Chase Oliver are the current Presidential candidates, each candidate has a campaign website that explains their goals and credentials.
Kamala Harris and Tim Walz — Democratic Party
Vice President Kamala Harris is running with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her Vice President. The two candidates align closely with the democratic party. According to the Harris/Walz campaign website, the runners aim to “defend reproductive freedom and safeguard the privacy of patients and providers.”
Harriz and Walz also advocate for civil rights and opportunities for American citizens, such as proposing laws that will enshrine voting rights protections, expand vote-by-mail, early voting and more.
Harris’ administration will also continue to protect Americans from discrimination, building on her work to secure $2 billion in funding for Offices of Civil Rights across the federal government.
As for gun laws, Harris proposes to “ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, require universal background checks, and support red flag laws that keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people. She will also continue to invest in funding law enforcement, including the hiring and training of officers and people to support them.” Harris also wishes to continue her aid in climate change and enact regulations to ensure the health of our climate.
Donald Trump and J.D. Vance — Republican Party
Former President Donal Trump and Senator J.D. Vance align closely with the Republican party, both Vance and Trump deny any connection to “Project 2025”. Vance and Trump pledge to “Seal the border and stop the migrant invasion” and “Carry out the largest deportation operation in American history” as published in his 2024 campaign site.
Within the midst of American involvement in the Palestine/Israel conflict, Trump also wants to “Prevent World War Three, restore peace in Europe and in the Middle East, and build a great iron dome missile defense shield over our entire country” with American sourced iron as well as “Deport pro-hamas radicals”.
Trump and Vance also aim to cut federal funding for any school pushing “critical race theory”, “radical gender ideology” and other “inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content” onto school children. There are no official plans regarding reproductive health or climate change within the Trump and Vance campaign site.
An absentee ballot is a vote cast by a citizen that is unable to get to the physical polling booth on the day of the election. Out of state students can search their state voting guidelines and request an absentee ballot from there. All absentee ballots must be requested before Oct. 25 at 5 p.m..
According to Boise State University’s “Facts and Figures”, 31% of the student population are out of state students, meaning that requesting absentee ballots requires a little more effort.
California residents can request an absentee ballot by mail through the California Secretary of State. Vote-by-mail ballots that are mailed in must be postmarked on or before Election Day and received by your county elections office no later than seven days after Election Day. If you are a first time voter, you must include some sort of personal identification from a government agency such as a utility bill or photocopied license.
Washington residents can receive their absentee ballot by confirming their registration on the Voter registration and ballot management portal and requesting a ballot and mailing it to their local county elections office.
Oregon residents must also confirm voter registrations, fill out an absentee ballot request form and mail it to their local county elections office.
All out of state students can search their states rules and guidelines in order to cast their ballots and ensure their vote is counted. All states require voter registration which simply requires a name, a birthdate, address and contact information.
Voting can be seen as difficult, however being informed and prepared is all that one needs to submit a vote on election day.
“Unfortunately, it’s more complicated than it probably needs to be,” said Orr. “But I don’t think it’s impossible to figure out, and it’s worth taking the time to do that.”
All American citizens over the age of 18 have the right to submit a vote on election day, Nov. 5.
