College students tackle barriers to voting as early voting begins • Ohio Capital Journal

In the final weeks of the presidential campaign, both sides are scouring swing states to attract as many voters as possible, including on college campuses. But in some of these crucial states, students are facing new obstacles to voting.

Election officials in North Carolina are enforcing a 2018 voter ID law for the first time in a general election this November after the law was shelved due to legal entanglements. Universities across the state have already been working to ensure students who want to vote have ID. However, in recent weeks, students have found that they cannot use the ubiquitous digital university ID cards stored on their cell phones.

In states like Arizona, Indiana and Texas, students have expressed concerns about the lack of polling places on college campuses.

And in Georgia, officials at Emory University in Atlanta mistakenly gave students false instructions about which campus address to provide on voter registration forms, leading to their registrations being challenged when voting.

Nearly 41 million Generation Z Americans are eligible to vote in November's election, according to the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, a research organization called CIRCLE that focuses on young people. This large bloc of voters could make the difference in an election likely to be determined by a small majority.

But voting laws vary by state, and access for the roughly 18 million undergraduate and graduate students varies from campus to campus. Add to that the complexity of last-minute changes to election laws, including the adoption of voter identification by an increasing number of states, and that confusion can affect participation, said Alberto Medina, a spokesman for CIRCLE, which is based at Tufts University.

“It is not a question of apathy when young people’s turnout is low,” he said. “There is a perception that voting is simple and straightforward and everyone should be able to figure out how to do it. And that’s not the case.”

Turnout among voters ages 18 to 29 jumped to 50% in the 2020 presidential election, an 11 percentage point increase from the 2016 presidential election, according to a CIRCLE analysis.

However, the center's survey shows that young people still face “significant structural barriers” to participating in the democratic process, including a lack of civic education, neglect by political parties and candidates, and complicated logistics such as ignorance about registration, missed deadlines, etc even find transportation to a polling place.

Voter ID complications in North Carolina illustrate some of these obstacles, Medina said.

Confusion in North Carolina

Last month, the North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled that the digital photo ID created by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill “or any other 'image of a photo ID, whether as a photocopy or as a photograph on a mobile device,'” “was not an acceptable form of identification for voting.

A decision so late in the election season sparked a wave of confusion across the state as colleges that only use digital IDs had to quickly notify their students of the rule change and offer physical IDs.

To comply with the 2018 voter ID law, which took effect last year after a lengthy legal battle, universities were already trying to spread the word and offer free physical IDs. The court ruling increased the urgency.

At Elon University, a private college 30 minutes east of Greensboro, student leaders have put up signs and posters and spoken to classes, sororities and fraternities about how to secure a free physical student ID card that complies with state election law.

Bo Dalrymple, a student coordinator for the nonpartisan campus civic engagement group Elon Votes!, said the messaging campaign was necessary because many students come from out of state and do not have North Carolina driver's licenses. In most states, students can typically choose to vote in their hometown or at their universities, depending on residency requirements.

“There's a lot of confusion, a lot of speculation or things you hear,” said Dalrymple, a senior political science and international and global studies double major who hails from North Carolina. “One of our biggest jobs is just to cut through the noise and make sure that these students are informed of the proper policies and rules.”

But other college students in North Carolina believe the voter ID law change was clear.

“It won’t cause any significant problems,” said Matthew Trott, president of the UNC College Republicans and a North Carolinian native. “I honestly don’t think it’s as big of a problem as it seems.”

Trott, who is double majoring in political science and public policy at Chapel Hill, said he hasn't heard any concerns from his friends or members of the College Republicans about having to get a physical student ID to vote; Most of them just use their North Carolina driver’s license.

Earlier this month, the university released guidance on the new law, noting that students can obtain a physical student ID card, known on campus as the UNC One Card, for free. Students were also directed to the North Carolina State Board of Elections website, which lists by college what types of IDs are acceptable for voting.

In the coming days, Trott said he plans to make a post on social media to explain the early voting deadline and voter ID requirements. He has heard some confusion about the process of requesting absentee ballots, which he also wants to clear up.

He added that he addressed some of these issues with students backstage for former President Donald Trump's campaign ahead of the university's home football games this season, which generated much excitement on campus.

More enthusiasm nationwide

This civic enthusiasm is reflected in surveys. A recent Harvard Kennedy School poll found that 56% of young people ages 19 to 29 “definitely” plan to vote, with Democrats expressing more enthusiasm than Republicans. The share of expected young voters has increased by three percentage points since Harvard's spring poll, a rise that pollsters link to Vice President Kamala Harris' entry into the race.

According to the Harvard poll, Harris has a 23-point lead over Trump among registered young people.

The excitement is palpable at Arizona State University, said Katie Ritchie, a second-year political science and economics double major.

“The presidential campaign's messages to young people on college campuses like ASU, which are so large, were pretty strong,” she said, adding that ballot initiatives and votes, such as a ballot question in Arizona that enshrined abortion rights in the state constitution would also contribute to the enthusiasm.

Elon University's Ritchie and Dalrymple are student ambassadors for the Andrew Goodman Foundation, a nonpartisan group that promotes civic engagement on their college campuses. The foundation has ambassadors in 66 locations in 20 states and the District of Columbia.

Arizona State University is one of 150 universities in battleground states that the Harris campaign has targeted to mobilize Generation Z voters. Recently, “Grey’s Anatomy” cast members spoke on campus on behalf of the Harris campaign. Republican U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake and conservative media personality Charlie Kirk have also held pro-Trump events in student fraternities.

At the University of Arizona in Tucson, students have complained that there will be no vote center on campus on Election Day. Although the nearest voting center is right next to campus — just 800 feet from the old main campus building — some students worried that could dampen voter turnout.

While the University of Arizona will not have a voting center on campus on Election Day, Arizona State University will have one in the fitness center on the Tempe campus as well as on the school's three other campuses. Large signs are already posted outside the fitness center encouraging students to vote early.

There have also been disputes over setting up polling places on college campuses in other states, including Texas, where a tight U.S. Senate race is between Republican incumbent Ted Cruz and Democratic U.S. Rep. Colin Allred.

Last month, the Tarrant County Commissioners Court rejected a GOP proposal to close early voting sites at colleges, including one at the University of Texas at Arlington.

“They are trying to silence the voice of the most marginalized communities, like young people,” said Claudia Yoli Ferla, executive director of MOVE Texas, a San Antonio-based advocacy group that fought to ban on-campus voting People keep open more than 27,000 students.

Barriers for college students are nothing new, said Rashawn Davis, executive director of the Andrew Goodman Foundation. Every state must work to make voting more inclusive for young people, he added. But he is optimistic.

“Right now we’re at a critical point where we’re seeing young people’s voices really taking hold,” he said, “and some of these issues are starting to change.”