Welcome to State of the Student Vote
A newsletter about the research we need to achieve 100% Student Voter Participation
Dear Friends,
We live in such an exciting times to be working toward 100% student voter participation!
Student voting rates have increased dramatically in recent years. They doubled from 2014 to 2018. Student voters participated at nearly the same rate as the general population in the 2020 election after decades of lagging far behind.
It is not just the outcomes that have improved. There is far more and better data available for scholars studying student voting. Voter participation for over 10 million students is tracked through the National Study of Learning Voting and Engagement. Campus programing and tactics at more than 500 campuses is available through public voting action plans. Thousands of stakeholders share knowledge and strategy regularly through expanding coalition spaces.
By working together and learning from each other, we can use this data to gain new insights about how to get closer to 100% student voter participation. This spring, an amazing group of scholars, student leaders, and practitioner experts have come together to do that through the Student Vote Research Network. Their work builds on an extraordinary research workshop hosted by Dr. Edie Goldenburg at MIT in 2018 to assess the state of political science scholarship as it relates to student voting.
In this newsletter, we’ll share periodic updates about what we’re learning about the State of the Student Vote. What’s working and what’s not, especially for the community colleges and minority serving institutions that serve the majority of American college students. What are we learning about how to build a 100% democracy for students -- and all Americans?
We will also share opportunities to get involved in the research process. It’s going to take the unique expertise and perspectives of all of us to reach 100% student voter participation. So whether you’re a tenured professor or an undergraduate just getting involved in your campus student voting coalition or a community partner looking to serve student voters, this newsletter and this network are for you.
We can’t to see what we learn together!
Best,
Student Vote Research Network Steering Committee
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Thanks again, and please tell a few friends if you feel like it.