“Thank you so much for your help! Without you, I would have never been able to fulfill my pledge to vote in this year’s midterm election.”
– student voter in New Jersey
Responses like this remind me of the importance of doing the work we do. For more than 40 years, our nonpartisan New Voters Project has had one mission: increase student participation in the political process. And our strategy is simple – invest in training young leaders to help them organize their peers and encourage them to vote.
As we celebrate historic levels of youth voter participation this midterm election, I want to recognize the students who worked tirelessly to lead the effort on college campuses across the country.
This school year, more than 500 New Voters Project student leaders reached more than 200,000 students from 32 states and Washington D.C., helping them find their polling places, bring the right IDs, find rides to the polls, and get answers to their questions about the voting process.
I am proud to share some stories from the field and the students leading the charge. You can check out our full list of highlights from Election Day here!
Taylor Mitchell, Senior, North Carolina State University
Taylor hit the ground running this semester as an intern with NCPIRG’s New Voters Project. Over the course of the fall term, she stepped up as a leader by building an energetic team of eight fellow students to demystify the voting process for their peers. Through a mix of on-campus clipboard canvassing, phone calls, and text outreach, Taylor and her team successfully reached hundreds of students to ensure their voices would be heard
Nawal Azouz, Senior, Michigan State University
As a New Voters Project Organizer, she has worked tirelessly to help her fellow Spartans cast their ballots. In the final countdown to Election Day, Nawal reached hundreds of students via phone banking. Whether she was clipboard canvassing on campus, volunteering with the MSU Votes coalition, speaking in her classes, or pitching to student organizations, Nawal ensured her peers had the tools they needed to vote.
Karolyn Barker, Senior, University of California Davis
As the New Voters Project Campaign Coordinator at UC Davis, Karolyn helped bridge the gap between student’s on-the-ground work and the wide reach of campus administrators and faculty. Working with Chancellor Gary May, they produced a short PSA that encouraged students to register to vote. The announcement reached the entire student body.
Christina Tewari, Sophomore, University of South Florida
As a New Voters Project intern, Christina organized events that made voting fun. From Halloween themed “Don’t Ghost Your Vote” photo petitions, to “Why I Vote” tables on Election Day, she made voting accessible for students in Florida by making the process engaging and impactful.
Student-led efforts contribute to youth voter turnout
While we wait for final election results and voter turnout numbers from college campuses, preliminary results from the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) estimates that 27% of young people (ages 18-29) voted in the 2026 midterm elections. This is the second-highest midterm youth voter turnout in the past 30 years, trailing only the 2018 election cycle.
On top of that, turnout at polling locations in student-heavy precincts near campuses where we ran the New Voters Project show higher voter turnout compared to the national average. These results are consistent with past research on the effectiveness of the New Voters Project that found that student-led, nonpartisan campaigns on college campuses that use peer-to-peer strategies lead to higher turnout.
After the rest of the results come in, we’ll update you with more turnout data and an overview of our work this fall. Stay tuned!
Manny Rin
Director, New Voters Project
| About The Student PIRGs The Student PIRGs’ mission is to ensure students have the skills, opportunities and training they need to create a better, more sustainable future for all of us. Our youth civic engagement network of 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) student-directed and funded organizations across the country has nearly 300,000 dues-paying student members in 11 states. Each year, 4,000 students get their first hands-on experience in organizing and activism while volunteering with us. Every year, we reach hundreds of thousands of students and generate 150,000 grassroots actions. Since our founding, the Student PIRGs have trained over 1 million volunteers. |