Professors say friends, information vital to voter participation

Whether they know it or not, young voters at historically Black colleges and universities are part of a long history of political engagement on their campuses. Many — public and private — found themselves ensconced in the civil rights movement.

Duke University professor Deondra Rose, whose research has examined the relationships between HBCUs and American Democracy, said that civic engagement has long been a part of the HBCU culture.

“So throughout their history, HBCUs really offered students the opportunity to delve into important issues like citizenship and equality and justice,” Rose said, “They provided opportunities to engage with inspiring speakers and some of the most prominent leaders throughout history who would come and visit HBCU.”

Rose said that today, this can be seen in an emphasis on community service and the understanding of this history with current students.

“That civic-mindedness, that community-mindedness, oftentimes translates into efforts to serve,” Rose said, “That long legacy and history of HBCU engagement with politics certainly seems to be a factor in shaping high levels of engagement among HBCUs and their students today.”

First-time voters in general may struggle to navigate registration and election processes. University and College campuses can be direct connections for these young voters, and this has been historically true for HBCUs.

Debra Leiter, a professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, said while younger voters may have much less experience in political engagement, they develop different political priorities. Their voices can bring a sense of diversity to the spotlighted issues.

“So 2024 is really interesting in that everybody across every age group cares about the economy. That's the number one issue, regardless of your age,” Leiter said. “But once you get below your most important issue, we see really important divergences in younger voters' priorities. Younger voters are much more likely to prioritize the economy, issues of political equality, and the environment.”

Students who are involved on campus are more likely to vote if their friends are involved, Leiter said.

“If you join clubs or groups and they have a Get Up the Vote drive or your three friends are like, Hey, we're going to go vote tomorrow. Should we all drive together?” Leiter said. “Those are incredibly good predictors of political participation.”

Registration can be an especially powerful barrier to political engagement, experts said, especially for those who have moved from other places for higher education. Many students live in places different from where they were born.

“If you are somebody who experiences housing insecurity, for example, or are a college student, and you move around a lot, you might not realize that your polling location has changed,” University of Illinois-Chicago professor Kelly LeRoux said.  “So being able to have access to information, accurate information, early, is really helpful.”

Outside of campuses, young voters can rely on non-profit civic organizations to connect them with reliable information especially when it’s so easy to find misinformation. LeRoux said that, for young and underrepresented voters, nonprofits are ways to create a more direct connection with groups that candidates may be overlooking. 

“The message about voting is important, you matter to your community, you matter to democracy, you matter to the future of this country,” LeRoux said, “Nonprofits are really well positioned to be that messenger.”

Leiter pushed against the prevailing stereotype of young voters being apathetic about the voting process. Instead, the red tape around participating can keep them from voting.

“It's not just young people don't care,” Leiter said, “There's a lot of things that make people frequent voters that make it harder, especially for college voters, to vote.”