Marquette University sophomores Will Cardwell and Henry Morgan grew up in Illinois and Colorado, respectively, but they plan to cast their votes this November in Milwaukee, where they go to school. Ian Heffernan, a junior at the University of Minnesota, is planning to vote in Wisconsin via an absentee ballot mailed to his hometown of Madison.
All three voters will be part of deciding who wins the presidency in a state that voted for Donald Trump in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020. Says Cardwell, “Being able to vote in Wisconsin, which is considered a swing state, I feel like my vote almost has more influence over the outcome of the election.”
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Many students are in a similar situation, opting to strategically cast a ballot depending on where their vote could have the most impact or where they consider “home.” That means they either vote in the state where they grew up or the state where they attend college, or if they go to school in the same state where their family lives, choosing their voting district. Some young people in the military may also have a choice in where they vote depending on where they claim residency, which is tied to where they pay state taxes: their home state or where they are stationed.
University of Pennsylvania junior Jane Kinney made a deliberate decision to register to vote in Pennsylvania. Her family moved from southern New Jersey to upstate New York a couple of years ago, but she says she feels more connected to Philadelphia because it is geographically close to where she grew up. She also likes knowing her vote will matter more in Pennsylvania. “Most of the friends that I have here who are out of state are voting in Pennsylvania as well, unless they happen to live in another swing state,” says Kinney. “It is a pretty common sentiment here.”
These students are correct about their votes having more influence on the presidential election in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, as both are currently identified as battleground states, along with Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, and Nevada. That’s because of how the Electoral College works. In the US, presidents are not elected by winning the greatest number of individual votes; instead, they must win at least 270 Electoral College votes.
In presidential races, states are allotted one elector per member of Congress, so Pennsylvania, for example, has 19 electors for its 17 members in the House of Representatives and two US senators. The winner of the popular vote in each state (except Maine and Nebraska, which allow electors to be split among candidates) gets all of the elector votes from that state. That’s why Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are campaigning so hard in battleground states where the race is a toss-up and the results are expected to be close.
It is possible for a presidential candidate to win the Electoral College but lose the nationwide popular vote, something that has happened five times in America’s history, including Trump’s 2016 win. While an elector could go rogue and defy their state’s popular vote, it is extremely rare and, in some states, would result in penalties and fines.
According to the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), Gen Z makes up nearly one-fifth of the electorate, with more than 40 million prospective voters and more than 8 million Gen Z'ers estimated to be newly eligible to vote in the 2024 election cycle. With an upward trend in youth voter turnout in the last several midterm and general elections since 2014, young voters have the potential to wield a decisive influence over the upcoming election, says Alberto Medina, communications team lead at CIRCLE, a Tufts University-based, nonpartisan organization that conducts research on youth civic engagement.
“Young people remain really interested in electoral participation,” Medina says. He points to a September poll done by YouGov and The Economist that showed 62% of voters age 18-29 said they are “definitely” going to vote in this upcoming election.
Medina expects the youth turnout to be impacted by each candidate's willingness to address the concerns of young voters about specific issues they care deeply about. The top concerns for young voters, according to 2023 research from CIRCLE, are inflation/cost of living, jobs that pay a living wage, gun violence, and climate change.
Meanwhile, Vote.org has registered younger voters at unprecedented levels during this election cycle, says Andrea Hailey, CEO of the nonprofit, nonpartisan voting rights organization. The platform saw a bump in registration numbers when Kamala Harris entered the race, Hailey tells Teen Vogue in a statement: “In the days following the change at the top of the Democratic ticket, Vote.org generated a massive surge in voter engagement across the nation.” Of the more than 1.5 million individuals Vote.org has registered this cycle, 80% are under the age of 35 and 30% are 18 years old, according to the CEO.
There are some hoops college students must jump through to register. “They need to get all [their] ducks in a row to cast an informed ballot,” says Jennifer Domagal-Goldman, executive director of ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge, which aims to increase voter engagement among college students. Located on more than 1,000 college campuses, including more than 250 community colleges and 50 historically Black colleges and universities, ALL IN volunteers are well-trained to help students navigate the registration process no matter where they are from, says Domagal-Goldman.
Understanding registration deadlines is very important. Miss the deadlines, which vary by state, and there’s no way to vote. The earliest in-person deadline is October 4 in states such as South Carolina, while other states like Nevada allow in-person registration on Election Day. Each of those two states also has a separate deadline for online and mail-in registration that differs from the in-person deadline. Meanwhile, voters in North Dakota can show up at the polls and vote on Election Day, no registration required. But people do need to show valid identification to vote, another requirement for in-person voting in most states. Domagal-Goldman reminds students who can choose where to register to check the deadlines in each state. If they miss one deadline, they may still be able to vote if they can register in another state. Students who have moved and are looking to vote in their new location will also need to update their address. The proof needed to do so varies by state.
When Heffernan’s mom reminded him to request an absentee ballot, he talked to his Wisconsin friends also at the University of Minnesota about getting theirs too. “We see it as a no-brainer for us to vote in Wisconsin because it is a swing state,” he says.
Those voting absentee also need to mind the deadlines for requesting and mailing ballots back because they vary by state. ALL IN is encouraging college mail rooms working with the initiative to flag ballots as packages so students are alerted when they arrive, but students should be diligent about checking their mail.
Students also need to think about what issues are most important to them as they decide where to vote. Says Domagal-Goldman, “We don’t tell them where they should register or vote; we help them understand their rights around it.” Is there a hotly contested congressional race in their home district or the place they’re currently living? Does the ballot in either place feature an issue or candidate they care deeply about?
These issues can motivate young voters, says Beth Lynk, the executive director of When We All Vote, an initiative created by Michelle Obama to increase voter registration and turnout, especially among groups that historically haven't participated in high numbers. “That’s how you build the next generation of voters, is [by] having those conversations….," Lynk says. "First asking, ‘What do you care about?’ And then going a step deeper, ‘Well, look up and down the ticket [to see] how the issues you care about are impacted by the people you have the power to put in those positions.’”
One goal of When We All Vote is to make voting feel accessible by pushing back on election season unease with events like early-polling location parties. “Voting does not have to be anxiety-inducing or stressful or out of reach,” Lynk says.
Like ALL IN, the When We All Vote initiative works under the umbrella organization Civic Nation. When We All Vote sponsors student-led voter registration clubs in high schools, knowing they provide an opportunity to reach individuals who are often underrepresented at the polls: those who don’t go to college, minorities, and rural youth.
Of course, there are many important things to be decided on Election Day. Beyond control of Congress and the White House, many states are considering ballot initiatives on issues like abortion, marijuana legalization, and the minimum wage. There are plenty of places for the youth vote to have influence, Medina says. Check out CIRCLE’s recently updated Youth Electoral Significance Index, an analysis of where in the country the youth vote has the greatest potential to shape national election results.
“Young people can have a major impact on election results this November," Medina said in a September media briefing, "not just in one state, not just in the presidential race, but really everywhere and in multiple races, at multiple levels.”
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