College students are notoriously flakey when it comes to voting — although recent trends show that participation is indeed on the rise. If college should be a time for newly eligible voters to develop civic habits and explore what democratic participation looks like for them, then institutions must give them the tools to do so. Colleges can, and should, play an active role in boosting student turnout.
Yes, I know it’s March. We are still eight months away from the next election. I know it feels too early to be talking about this. But if I have learned anything from working two cycles of campaign organizing, it’s that when it comes to college students, it’s never too early to make a plan to vote.
The 5Cs currently treat Election Day like any other Tuesday. This is a missed opportunity. To emphasize the importance of voting and make it more accessible for students, the 5Cs should treat Election Day as a national holiday.
The four years students spend in college are pivotal for forming adult habits and self-definition. For many fresh 18-year-olds, voting for the first time feels like the official beginning of adulthood, but voting is easier said than done. Just like navigating any bureaucratic process, understanding voter registration, absentee requests and mail-in ballots can be intimidating and time-consuming. Without guidance and incentive, voting tends to fall off the priority list for many students.
Voting can become habitual in the first few years away from home — so as long as students receive institutional support. Colleges will not produce civically-engaged graduates until they become active in facilitating student voter participation. Making Election Day a holiday at the Claremont Colleges is a critical first step.
Canceling classes on Election Day would allow students to access the two biggest resources that are often barriers to voting: time and information. Students could divert some energy usually directed towards classwork to research candidates and make informed decisions on their ballot. Similarly, they could devote an afternoon to visit the post office to submit an absentee ballot or wait in line to vote locally in person.
Voting in college is more complicated than many of us would like to admit — certainly, it entails much more than checking off a box. Students from every state in the country attend the 5Cs, and they have to navigate different voting laws and decide if they want to vote from their home or college address.
No, the 5Cs can’t make voting easy for every student — students are responsible for doing their own research, making a plan to vote and following through — but making Election Day a holiday gives students the agency to participate in the process.
A core feature of liberal arts education is being able to understand the world around us. Locked away in our academic halls, we sometimes forget to engage with it. Voting is the most fundamental way we reflect on what we care about, make choices with real-world implications and exercise our power as individuals.
Without classes, the floodgates of civic participation opportunities open: students can not only vote, but poll work, poll watch or volunteer for a campaign to gain a practical education of the civic process. Making Election Day a holiday forces students to take a pause and engage in their relationship with their communities. It would not be a day off for students but rather a much needed day on.
While it is true that voting as a working adult in the real world poses many if not more of the same time constraints college students face, for better or worse, college is not the real world. Campus administrations have the unique power to dictate student life in a way that does not exist in almost any other setting — it’s time they leverage it for good.
Once students learn to navigate the voting process, it can become an ingrained habit. The 5Cs have a direct opportunity to help students develop strong voting habits before post-grad life gets in the way.
Colleges cannot expect their students to prioritize civic engagement unless they do the same. More than anything, treating Election Day as a campus national holiday is an opportunity for the 5Cs to make the ultimate clear value statement: voting matters.
EX: Madison Lewis PO ’24 is from Palo Alto, California. She has worked in two cycles of political organizing for Democratic candidates and designed multiple campus voting engagement programs.
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