This election, protecting the student vote is more urgent and important than ever. As more polling places move off campus and newer, stricter voter ID laws take effect, the Student PIRGs’ non-partisan New Voters Project is pulling out all the stops to ensure that students nationwide are equipped to turn out to vote and do so.
Our democracy only works when we all participate.
When youth turnout is suppressed, elected officials and those seeking office ignore issues that young potential voters care about, and in turn, young people who see they aren’t being represented decide that participation won’t bring the change they seek. This cycle of neglect creates disengaged citizens and needs to be broken. The solution is simple: Young people need to vote.
The Student PIRGs’ New Voters Project works to lower the barriers between students and the voting booth while fostering a culture of peer-to-peer civic engagement that starts with voting. It’s vital that young people understand that there is power in raising your voice.
“Our government’s purpose is to represent and protect the people, and this begins with making your voice heard by voting every election! For many groups, the right to vote was a hard fought victory, so it is only fair for us today to exercise this right.”
-Van Slavishak PennPIRG at University of Pittsburgh
The New Voters Project is actively working to help college students overcome the three biggest barriers they face this election:
- Stringent voter ID laws
- Inconvenient or relocated polling locations
- Lack of familiarity with poll-site rights and potential roadblocks
The Student PIRGs’ New Voters Project is putting our campus organizing infrastructure and experienced student activists to work protecting young voters — one student at a time. All the way through Election Day, PIRG student leaders will be a trusted, peer-to-peer resource for their classmates: distributing non-partisan voter guides, answering questions about where and when students can vote, explaining their rights at the polls, and helping students navigate voter ID requirements and other potential roadblocks.
That student-to-student connection is critical. Research shows that when students make a plan to vote and have a friend encouraging them to follow through, they are much more likely to cast their ballots. That’s why PIRG student leaders are also working with campus staff and decision makers to make sure students have convenient access to polling locations on Election Day, while educating their peers about early and mail-in voting options.
“I grew up going to polls with my parents because they knew how important it was to vote for… people who would be impacting our lives, and hearing them talk about politics and why it is so important to vote instilled that knowledge in me, and to this day, whether it be through social media infographics or conversations with people I know, I encourage people to vote as best I can.”
-William Ellington, CALPIRG at UCLA
We’re backing up this on-the-ground work with broader voter protection efforts. In collaboration with our Election Protection Coalition partners, we’re working with local election officials, Secretaries of State and other elected officials to ensure election laws are interpreted fairly — and to make sure those in power understand the unique challenges young voters face. By putting trusted peers in students’ corners and helping remove barriers at every step, the New Voters Project helps ensure that every student can cast their ballot with confidence.
Created on college campuses almost 50 years ago, the Student PIRGs have built the nation’s most effective youth civic engagement network with a presence on more than 100 campuses across the country. PIRG chapters and clubs organize students on a variety of issue campaigns year-round, maintaining and expanding a permanent organizing infrastructure and leadership development pipeline on college campuses.
Because of our decades-long investment in youth organizing, we are effectively positioned to activate existing campus networks and coalitions, leverage relationships with elected officials and decision makers, and mobilize seasoned student-organizers to raise election visibility and protect fellow voters from disenfranchisement.
- Helped register more than 2 million young people to vote
- Made more than 3 million personalized GOTV contacts
- Helped dozens of college campuses develop civic action plans
- Trained thousands of students in the citizenship, leadership, and campaigning skills necessary to run voter engagement and mobilization campaigns.