Why Students Need and Deserve the Freedom to Vote Act
By Terra Wilbanks, Democracy Fellow for Public Citizen
I turned 18 in 2020, just in time to vote in the most important election of my lifetime–but, as a college student studying out-of-state, I knew that lawmakers in my home state and across the country were working to keep me, along with millions of young, poor, Black, brown, and new Americans, from voting. After having my request to vote-by-mail in my home state of Tennessee denied just weeks before the election, I was unsure whether I would be able to vote in the presidential election. Ambiguous election laws and other barriers to voting made me unsure if I was eligible to register to vote in Georgia and worried if I’d be able to register on time.
These barriers, among others, inhibit college students and young adults nationwide from participating in our democracy, making my age group the least likely to vote, historically. According to the Campus Votes Project, “young people cite barriers such as missing a deadline or lacking other information” for our low turnout rates. As the newest members of our democracy, we move more often, are less likely to have the necessary forms of ID, and are less likely to be contacted by campaigns or election administrative agencies, all of which act as barriers to accessing the ballot. Luckily, universities like mine are filling the gaps to help students overcome barriers excluding us from our democracy–but it’s up to Congress to create real solutions to eliminate these barriers entirely by passing the Freedom to Vote Act and restoring the Voting Rights Act.
My college, Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, is committed to ensuring students are well-informed participants in our democracy, taking highly effective steps to get our large, diverse student population registered and voting. Emory’s greatest proponent of student participation in democracy is the Emory Votes Initiative (EVI), which was established during the 2018 midterms to mobilize student voters and has grown into a key mechanism for driving civic participation on campus in the years since. EVI’s work ensures students are aware of election procedures, have access to important resources and nonpartisan information, and feel empowered to participate in democracy. EVI has increased voter turnout among students from about 18% in 2014 to nearly 45% in 2018, and this number is expected to continue growing.
EVI’s success demonstrates the urgent need for national election standards. One of EVI’s primary goals is “demystifying” voting and election procedures, and while I’m thankful my campus has an organization doing this work, it shouldn’t really be necessary. Voting shouldn’t be a mystery, it should be simple. The existence of organizations like EVI demonstrates the need for minimum federal election standards, like those offered in the Freedom to Vote Act, to remove unnecessary and deliberate barriers to voting.
Universities can and should support student voters, but only comprehensive democracy reform can ensure our government represents, reflects, and responds to us. In order to realize the promise of American democracy, we need bold, transformative reforms to create national standards for voting, removing ambiguity from elections and ensuring our voices are heard. The Freedom to Vote Act would ensure automatic, same-day, and online voter registration, eliminating complicated and delayed registration as barriers to voting. It would guarantee accessible early voting and establish Election Day as a public holiday, ensuring busy college students and working people have access to the ballot. It would establish national standards for registering and voting in federal elections, eliminating confusion about deadlines or requirements for students studying outside their home states. And it would protect voters from discriminatory voter purges, long lines, and gerrymandering that impair students’ ability to vote and dilute our power.
The Freedom to Vote Act will make our democracy more accessible and inclusive to not only students, but millions of other Americans shut out from democracy by unnecessary barriers to voting. With the help of the Emory Votes Initiative, Emory students can contribute to our democracy in a meaningful, well-informed way, making our government more representative of and responsive to us. With the Freedom to Vote Act, this promise of American democracy can be realized for all of us.
