With election day on the horizon, young people in Madison are registering to vote at a rate that may shatter the norm in a non-presidential year.
In 2016, 1,062 people between the ages of 18 to 25 on campus registered to vote in the month after the state primary in August.
This year, during the same period, just seven less people were registered, at 1,055.
In a country that sees sharp declines in both registration and turnout in midterm elections, the uptick has not gone unnoticed.
“There’s definitely more people paying attention to electoral politics and interested in voting than I’ve seen in the past,” said Beth Alleman, the voting chair of ASM. “I’d be remiss to mention these numbers without also talking about how many people in the community have stepped up to help register other students to vote.”
The data from the period after the primary does not account for registration since then, including large-scale efforts around last week’s National Voter Registration Day.
According to those close to the efforts on the ground, much of the success owed to the unprecedented level of registration is owed to student organizations and others collaborating as a part of the Big Ten Voting Challenge, a competition among Big Ten schools to turnout as many students as possible for the election in November.
“Student registration has really surged in August and September,” said Barry Burden, a professor of political science. “I would like to think this is partly because of the efforts of the Big Ten Voting Challenge and other organizations that are working hard to make sure that students get registered.”
They are involving themselves locally, but many students seem to be spurred to action by the bigger picture.
“I think the effects of politics in people’s daily lives has been more evident lately than maybe in past years,” Alleman said. “I think students are aware of how the people who are elected to office affect our futures and our abilities to pursue our goals.”
The level of mobilization by young people nationwide has not gone unnoticed, with many expecting an election cycle with unusually high liberal, youth turnout, which Gov. Scott Walker termed a “blue wave.”
“The thing about calling it a ‘wave’ is that it makes it seem like it’s some natural phenomenon when it’s not,” Barry said. ”It’s work. You have to push people to turn out; you can’t just say they will.”
Despite unusual liberal optimism, the Big Ten Voting Challenge has incorporated the politics of all student groups, working with both College Democrats and Republicans, as well as many other organizations.
“It’s been amazing; I’m already so optimistic,” Barry said. “I don’t care how you vote. I just want you to vote. That’s it.”
