Students at the university are working to encourage their peers to vote this year

First-time voters on college campuses are trying to convey the importance of voting to their peers this election cycle. But as with most, the result of these efforts will not be seen until the final votes close.

Experts turn to young people to see if and how their turnout will influence the outcome of the election.

Sean Freeder, assistant professor of political science at the University of North Florida, teaches an introductory American government course that sees about 200 students a year, in addition to upper-level classes of about 100 students.

“I would say the interest in this election has been pretty consistently high, not just now, but in the primaries in past semesters,” he said. “In general, this is what we saw in the last elections. Trump being on the ballot seems to increase interest. I don’t think this is an exception here.”

One of the goals is not just to teach students about politics, but to prepare them to be active in politics, Freeder said. This includes hosting events to get them involved in early voting and teaching them about mail-in ballots, what precincts look like, and other basic voting education.

Dejau Travis, 20, is already voting in his first presidential election this year.

Travis said he’s always “been into politics,” but that he and his colleagues became more involved during the 2016 election after seeing how voter demographics changed and influenced the course of history.

Freeder said social science and research indicate that “voting is a habit.”

“Once you start, you keep doing it,” he said. “So as time goes on, in any election, from that point on, maybe you’re going to vote a lot of that point.”

Travis, a sophomore at Jacksonville University, said he attended in the 2022 semester and has been interested in politics since childhood.

In addition to being a voter, he is the election commissioner for the Jacksonville University Student Government Association, which oversees student elections and student positions. In this role, Travis helped develop the “Votes Jax” initiative with the goal of registering 500 students to vote between September 17th and October 7th. Although they fell short of their goal, their efforts managed to enroll 278 students on campus compared to between 50 and 60 enrollments in previous years.

“When I looked at my campus, (it) is very politically diverse,” he said. “I wanted to make sure students know that not only this choice, but every choice matters. The government needs your input, your voice, and you should use this opportunity. We wanted to remain nonpartisan and focus on the goal of registering students to vote.”

Efforts also focused on spreading information about voting, candidates and ballot amendments in Florida, Travis said, bringing the initiative to a scale it had never seen before.

“I definitely see political motivation on my campus,” he said. “I would definitely say that my campus is very eager to vote, and we have an early voting site right across the street from campus. We really push students to get out and vote.”

Nevena Trajkov, chair of Jacksonville University’s political science department, described the university as “a bit of a political desert.”

“Students are active and aware, especially political science students,” she said, “but it’s not really different from what we’re seeing across the country.”

Trajkov said voter registration booths and student registration days still exist on campus, although they look different now than they did in the past. While students previously had clipboards and helped each other fill out forms, everything is digital now, so students can just scan a QR code without having to discuss registration or ask questions about the voting process.

Some reasons students gave for not anticipating being able to vote or not being interested in voting this year included not having transportation to a precinct, which Travis said he’s trying to work on a solution for , such as transferring students on election day.

Other students said they didn’t want to vote because they were worried about how their friends or family would react to how they voted.

Talking about the voting process helped create a comfort level for new voters, Travis said, and he was glad he was able to help.

He said he plans to vote on the first day of early voting, Oct. 21, at the public library across from campus.

Nuwo Nwobegono, a 21-year-old junior in the political science program at Jacksonville University, said this will be his second time voting, but his first presidential election.

Nwobegono said he became interested in politics during the 2016 election and from there began to wonder about the impact of voting on the world around him.

He said one of his goals for this election was to get his mom to vote, too, but that overall he hasn’t seen a big change in voter registration or interest in the election on his campus.

“In this election, I do not feel that I am personally represented by any of the candidates,” Nwobegono said. “I also feel that not much will change for the better in the next four years, especially if Harris loses. For me, I personally feel that America will be in a similar situation in 2028 as it is now.”

That’s not an uncommon sentiment among young voters, Freeder said.

“One factor that could turn out young voters and make them turn out less could be Israel-Palestine,” he said. “That will be a subset of young voters, particularly those on the left, (who) may see both candidates as (too similar) on this issue to be motivated to run.”

On the other hand, Freeder said young people may also be more inclined to vote now because they want to feel like they’re part of their social circles if they see their friends voting. He added that he has seen a small tick on campus with students who are interested in helping others register to vote.

“I would say UNF is probably more typical of your average campus where there is some activity — (in) political clubs, (among) majors,” Freeder said. “If you look at the story over time, when people turn out to vote, it’s not so much a generational thing as it is a story of people getting older.”

Several factors are causing this, Freeder said, such as “life is becoming more real” and voters who think about the real world have more impact than before.

Trajkov, a teacher for about 20 years, said he attributes any increase in student political activity to social media.

“When we do research, when we see a significant change in patterns, we look at what new elements have been introduced,” she said. “Social media is that factor. They get these bits of information on a very palpable level.”

Trajkov said almost everything is communicated predominantly online now.

“On the days when I watch students sit around a table and discuss an issue — even playing devil’s advocate and having a meaningful discussion about it — I rarely see that anymore,” she said. “People are so wary of sharing political ideas because we’ve become such a polarized country. Because of this, there is less discourse on college campuses today, especially in Florida.”

As for the impact of youth voter turnout on the election, it is the Democratic Party that is hoping that youth turnout will outpace the increase in voter turnout in the rest of the political blocs, Freeder said.

“Younger people have been consistently, over the last two decades, on the left side of the political spectrum,” he said. “If they were to vote at the same rates as the other blocs, the election would be completely unrecognizable, whereas at the moment, it’s really a heat. Whether or not there is youth turnout is usually the central story of elections – and rightly so.”