Millennials and Gen Z will be the largest group of eligible voters in the 2020 election. This is significant because we could sway the popular vote, but for that to be true Millennials and Gen Z will have to register to vote and then follow through. College students have a low turnout rate to elections for many reasons including they move more, they are less likely to have a driver’s license and they are less likely to be contacted by political campaigns while the older generations have a higher likelihood of being contacted.

Also, college students may not even register to vote because they are not informed on how and/or they miss the deadline. The good news is that students can be educated on how to vote and get registered to vote. If colleges put in the work, I think they could have a great chance to empower and influence students to vote as well as encourage them to be active citizens and lifelong voters.

Campaigns are hustling to get college students to vote in this election cycle. The coronavirus is causing campaigns to rethink how they can best reach young voters. They also have the new challenge of trying to educate young people about absentee voting and the validity of the process.

In the past rallies and campus voter registration events have been used to educate college students about voting. Now, campaigns and colleges are in the challenging position of how to be engaging enough online to get students involved. Some political organizations have been organizing group chats through social media and creating engaging online content to do just that.

The Trump campaign has created a Make Campus Great Again program which holds in-person and virtual events to increase voter turnout in college students. This program has made it possible for them to identify more new voters and increase their student supporters.

There are currently 73 campuses involved with 555 campus team leaders. The Biden campaign created Students for Biden in 2019 to increase the number of student voters. Since then it has empowered students to work online and in person to educate their peers on how to register and vote by mail. The Students for Biden program has more than 380 chapters and has hired full-time staff to better help their efforts.

Schools, campaigns, and other political organizations are making great strides to solve the issue of low student turnout in past elections. A survey by the Knight Foundation found that 71 percent of college students polled said they were “absolutely certain” they would vote in the 2020 election. Young people can affect real change, and we are finally starting to see that.

Lindsey Ulrey is freshmen political science major. She can be reached at 581-2812 or lrulrey@eiu.edu.