“Brat summer” isn’t over in Wisconsin. Wisconsin’s Democratic Party embraced the lime green with its newly launched “voting is brat” website geared toward providing students with information on how to vote in Wisconsin.
“We hope that this is just both a fun thing, maybe leaning into the cringe of it. It's been a little overdone, but we're gonna have fun with it while we can,” Haley McCoy, deputy communications director for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, told The Daily Cardinal.
The website features drop-down tabs that answer frequently asked student voting questions as well as quick links to access online voter registration, voting identification information and early voting locations.
McCoy hopes the website will help make voting resources more accessible for students by creating a landing page for those navigating the voting process, especially out-of-state students hoping to vote in Wisconsin.
“Our intention is to hopefully just make it easier for students to know where they can go and how they can vote and exercise their right because I know it can be really confusing for students voting out of state,” McCoy said.
Wisconsin’s Democratic Party aren’t the only ones turning to pop culture to mobilize the student vote. Campus organizers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and campuses across the state have made their presence known during welcome week by handing out voter pamphlets, buttons, free “protect yourself from Republicans” condoms, temporary Kamala Harris tattoos and “brat” and Chappell Roan-themed stickers.
While it may all seem like fun and games, Austin Reynoso, the youth organizing director for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, hopes by being present and engaging with students, organizers can mobilize the student vote in Wisconsin.
“We want to meet students where they are, anywhere that they are,” Reynoso told the Cardinal.
This year, Gen Z makes up over 40 million potential voters, roughly one fifth of the electorate, according to research conducted at Tufts University. Reynoso hopes talking to young voters will create connections that will translate into votes in November.
“One of my main goals heading into November is to try to get everybody registered and understand how policies affect them… and that's why we’re out here fighting for a better future for these students and for ourselves,” Reynoso said.
The importance of the youth vote in Dane County
UW-Madison saw strong student turnout in recent elections, and Democrats hope to retain the student vote in November by placing emphasis on catering to the youth voting bloc.
With Vice President Kamala Harris’ last-minute bid for the presidency, voting enthusiasm surrounding the 2024 presidential election surged. While there has been a rejuvenated interest in the Democratic ticket among voters, the Harris campaign will need to find ways to sustain and harness the increased energy from young voters in the weeks leading up to the election.
One way Democrats can mobilize the youth vote is by centering young voices within the party and prioritizing the issues students care about, Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway told the Cardinal.
In recent statewide elections, key issues like abortion access have fueled an increase in student voter turnout in Wisconsin. Each night of the Democratic National Convention featured some of the party’s rising stars who spoke on issues including abortion rights, climate change and gun control that are important among young voters.
“It's really important for young people to have their voice heard and to emphasize the issues that are important to them,” Rhodes-Conway said. “One of the things that I was really struck by being in Chicago at the DNC, was the presence of young voices on that stage.”
In the 2023 spring election, UW-Madison students flocked to the polls for Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Janet Protasiewicz in record numbers. Campus wards containing university residence halls saw 91.3% of voters cast ballots for Protasiewicz — 10% more than Dane County as a whole, according to voting data from the Wisconsin Elections Commission.
While statewide student turnout in the spring 2022 election was 69% of the turnout in the November 2022 elections — which included the gubernatorial race and a U.S. Senate race on the ballot — campus precincts retained between 74% and 97% of voters the fall.
The student vote in Dane County is crucial to the success of Democrats “up and down the ballot,” Rhodes-Conway said, which is why it is necessary for students to register to vote, she noted.
“We want to make sure that people understand that registering to vote is part of the process here in Madison and it’s super easy to do,” Rhodes-Conway said. “When you move into a new place, you got to move your furniture, you got to change your address, you got to make sure that your electric and gas is turned on and you got to go register to vote.”
Anna Kleiber is the state news editor for The Daily Cardinal. She previously served as the arts editor. Anna has written in-depth on elections, legislative maps and campus news. She is an intern with WisPolitics and a summer intern with Madison Magazine. Follow her on Twitter at @annakleiber03.
