Over the last week, I’ve had a chance to look back at all the work PIRG New Voters Project student leaders have accomplished with the help of campus and non-profit partners to help turn out students to vote this election. This fall, our program recruited and trained more than 2,750 student leaders and volunteers from 75 campuses across 23 states.
While we wait for final election results and voter turn out numbers from college campuses, the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) estimates that 42% of young voters, ages 18-29, cast ballots in the 2024 presidential election, a lower youth turnout than in 2020—when their early estimate put youth turnout above 50% (a historic high) —and approximately on par with the 2016 presidential election.
CIRCLE also estimates that youth voter turnout in select states may have been much higher: 50% on aggregate in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, on par with turnout in 2020.
Past research done on the effectiveness of the New Voters Project shows that student-led, nonpartisan campaigns on college campuses that use peer-to-peer strategies lead to higher turnout. When you look at on-campus polling location turnout numbers for campuses we organized on, this appears to be true this election.
Young people have been historically underrepresented in our political process which is why students across the country have led our New Voters Project campaign for the last 40 years. These student leaders educate their peers about the importance of voting and help them participate in the voting process. PIRG New Voters Project student chapters’ work correlates with higher voter turnout than the average.
Whether it was shuttling students to the polling location and back to campus in Florida or handing out pizza and hyping up students in long lines in California, our student leaders played major roles on their campus to help their peers vote.
In total, we helped 600,000 students find their polling places, bring the right documents, find rides to the polls and get answers to their questions about the voting process – the majority of those interactions happened on Election Day!
With these preliminary results, we are making strides in our long-term goal of developing vibrant cultures of civic engagement on our college campuses.
Here are some stories from the field demonstrating what this future could look like
When we have more numbers available, we’ll update you with expanded turnout data and an overview of our team’s work this fall. Stay tuned! And if you have any thoughts on our program or want to learn more, please reach out. If you missed it, here is our Election Day Highlight Reel where you can read more stories from our student leaders across the country.
Best,
Manny Rin
New Voters Project Director
Student PIRGs