Four major 2024 priorities in the movement for 100% student voter participation
Key benchmarks will look beyond overall turnout to the strategies that lead to long-term institutionalization of nonpartisan student democratic engagement
Last November more than 200 students, campus staff, administrators, faculty members, nonprofit organizations, and philanthropic partners gathered in Washington, DC, and College Park, MD, for the 2023 National Student Vote Summit, the annual gathering hosted by the Students Learn Students Vote (SLSV) Coalition. On the final day of the Summit, attendees participated in a frank and collaborative discussion about the obstacles and opportunities they face in their efforts to achieve 100% student voter participation, in preparation for the 2024 elections and over the long term. Their feedback formed the basis of the SLSV Coalition’s 2024 agenda.
As the largest nonpartisan network in the country dedicated to increasing student voter participation, the SLSV Coalition’s plans for any given year are a useful snapshot of the consensus priorities that scholars, students, advocates, and community practitioners believe will best serve student voters over the coming months.
The nonpartisan student vote movement is focused on 100% student voter participation, but its aspirations go beyond voter turnout in 2024.
This November’s presidential election offers an obvious measuring stick for voter turnout efforts of all kinds, and student voter turnout numbers in 2024 are both consequential and instructive for any work toward achieving 100% student voter participation. However, turnout numbers alone don’t offer a full picture of the efficacy of strategies shown to help grow the student vote over multiple election cycles. That’s why the Student Vote Research Network will be tracking closely the progress of these four SLSV goals in 2024:
1. Grow the total number of campuses participating in nonpartisan democratic engagement action planning:
“By November 5, 2024, 600 colleges and universities will submit a 2024 action plan to an action planning program…. we will aim to ensure that the following number of plans are submitted by each institution type listed below:
-Community Colleges: 150 action plans
-Minority-Serving Institutions: 150 action plans
-Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs): 30 action plans
-Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs): 95 action plans
-Tribal Colleges & Universities (TCUs): 5 action plans
-Rural-Serving Institutions (RSIs): 180 action plans
-Campuses that have never submitted an action plan or haven’t submitted an action plan since 2020: 100 action plans”
Last year we chronicled in detail the state of democratic engagement action planning in the movement for 100% student voter participation, including evidence indicating that not only are action plans associated with higher student voter participation on a given campus, but their efficacy appears to grow when repeated over multiple election cycles. With new research from Johns Hopkins University’s P3 Labs producing insights into how effective nonpartisan democratic engagement action planning can increase strategic capacity to grow student voter participation, the opportunity to maximize the practice’s impact has never been greater.
Importantly, the SLSV Coalition will focus on ensuring that action planning is present on a variety of campus contexts - both to ensure the practice’s benefits reach communities historically underrepresented in the US electorate, and to continue to grow understanding of its impact across all institution types and contexts.
2. Help campuses understand and capitalize on their opportunity to focus new resources on nonpartisan student voter engagement.
“By April 1, 2024, we will create a toolkit to help campus partners understand and promote the importance and opportunity of using Federal Work Study funds for nonpartisan voter registration efforts. By October 1, 2024, individuals affiliated with at least 100 unique institutions of higher education will access the resource, at least 40 of which will represent community colleges, HBCUs, Minority-Serving Institutions, and rural-serving institutions.”
On February 26 the US Department of Education sent a Dear Colleague Letter to colleges and universities throughout the country clarifying that Federal Work-Study funds can be used to support nonpartisan voter registration activities among students at higher education institutions, including employment by public agencies for civic engagement work or assisting with election administration by serving as a poll worker.
This letter represents an important first step in spreading awareness and deepening understanding of the opportunities higher education institutions have to deepen civic engagement efforts on their campuses. The next challenge is bridging the gap between awareness to a successful execution of resources that effectively - and crucially, in compliance with federal law - taps into what would be a new source of funding for most campus practitioners. In creating a resource to help campuses do so, and working to ensure its use by campuses representing communities traditionally underrepresented in our democracy, the SLSV Coalition could help direct important additional support to nonpartisan efforts to grow the student vote.
3. Help student vote leaders combat disillusionment and polarization in their communities.
By April 15, 2024, the SLSV Communications Working Group will assemble a 2024 #StudentVote communications resource to be distributed to Coalition partners to help campus community leaders combat disillusionment and polarization among student voters… and will highlight at least 10 local leaders…”
One common theme to the feedback offered at the 2023 National Student Vote Summit was a sense of disillusionment with the state of electoral politics on college campuses, and a feeling that this disillusionment, in addition to political polarization that has been rising for years throughout the United States, would hinder the efficacy of even the most well-organized efforts to grow the student vote in 2024. To address this, the SLSV Coalition will work with partners to support model and craft messaging that speaks to the “why” behind student voter participation in a way that doesn’t engage with the elements of national politics that have left students feeling disillusioned.
4. Continue supporting research that will grow knowledge and fuel more effective strategies for achieving 100% student voter participation.
“By November 1, 2024, in partnership with the Student Vote Research Network, we will inspire and support 3-4 research projects to help us better understand the impacts of action planning and various Ask Every Student strategies, with 1-2 new research projects initiated at the 2024 Student Vote Research Network Workshop in April. These efforts will focus on evaluating strategies at community colleges, HBCUs, and Minority-Serving Institutions.”
By working with the Student Vote Research Network to continue supporting research conducted by and for college students at community colleges, HBCUs, and Minority-Serving Institutions, the SLSV Coalition is helping address a research gap that disadvantages institutions that the majority of all US college students attend. While this specific goal doesn’t vary significantly from the related priority from 2023, its continued presence on SLSV’s annual agenda speaks to the Coalition’s commitment to growing a stronger, more equitable research ecosystem within the student vote movement.
The Upshot: 2024 will serve as both a measuring stick and a massive opportunity for the movement for 100% student voter participation.
The SLSV Coalition’s priorities for 2024 speak to both the immediacy of the 2024 election and the long-term possibilities that come with the increased attention and resources typically afforded to nonpartisan student voter engagement work during federal election years. The emphasis on directing resources and messaging guidance toward nonpartisan student voter registration efforts will, if executed as intended, support campuses in the immediate future, while the Coalition’s continued focus on action planning and research will aim to ensure this year’s immediate focus on voter engagement will pay long-term dividends in terms of knowledge and institutionalization.
Thanks for undertaking this important reporting.