Mobilizing Young Voters in 2020 and Beyond

By Jessica Newfield (MPA Candidate '21)



Speakers:

• Sunshine Hillygus, Professor of Political Science, Duke University
• Veronica Terriquez, Associate Professor of Sociology, UC Santa Cruz         
• Ben Wessel, Director, NextGen Rising; Executive Director, NextGen America
• Moderated by Elizabeth Jarvis-Shean, Vice President of Communications, DoorDash

The US elections have historically witnessed low young voter turnout. Though still in lower percentages than their older counterparts, this 2020 election saw a sharp increase in the youth vote. On November 13th, the Institute of Government Studies, the Matsui Center for Politics and Public Service, and the Berkeley Institute for Young Americans at GSPP brought together a panel of scholars and practitioners to discuss the election outcomes and strategies for mobilizing young voters.

“The problem is not disinterest,” says Sunshine Hillygus, Professor of Political Science at Duke University about the narrative around civic disengagement of youth.“The conventional wisdom is that young people are apathetic, disinterested, and turned off by polarization (...) the problem is not about precursor but follow-through. 

From a comparative study of electoral systems for her book Making Young Voters, Professor Hillygus found that the US is 34th in youth voter turnout rates compared to other advanced democracies. In addition, studying the trends from the last 5 election cycles, she found that there is a greater gap between planning and intention to vote in young voters. What explains this? Largely, institutional hurdles in voting such as the overcomplicated registration process. Potential solutions? Lower the cost of voting by providing assistance to young voters to get registered and fill out forms, and improve civics education to break information misperceptions about voting and equip these voters with the tools for citizenry.

Executive Director of NextGen America, Ben Wessel, has proof that these solutions worked. His organization’s campaigns targeted low-turnout progressive voters between the ages of 18-35, which significantly contributed to winning margins in battleground states. According to their studies, young voters showed up in record numbers (and supported Joe Biden by a 2-to-1 margin) with a 16% increase in voter turnout compared to 2016. As Gen Z and millennials make up 40% of the eligible electorate, Wessel emphasizes how increasingly important it is to mobilize this demographic in future elections for representative democracy to occur. 

Veronica Terriquez, Associate Professor of Sociology at UC Santa Cruz shares the lessons learned from LA-based organizing, as seen at Power America, involving young voters of color in local voter registration efforts. Some effective strategies included using social media as new communication channels, civic learning through peer-to-peer facilitated events with help from school districts, administrators and teachers, and having the county registrar help deputize students to conduct voter registration and make voter registration forms easily available.

Looking forward, the panelists warned that organizers in the upcoming Senate election in Georgia might face the challenge of sustaining the energy galvanized so far and that further down the line, internal discordance among young voters within the Democratic party could surface in the midterms. The conversation wrapped up with recommendations to engage youth in politics in a nonpartisan manner and reimagine how civics are taught.