Engaging Students In 2020: The Big XII Votes

Karen M. Kedrowski is the Director, Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics at Iowa State University 

Lauren Schueler is the Director of N.E.W. Leadership and Civic Engagement at the Carl Albert Congressional Research and Studies Center at The University of Oklahoma

According to the United States Census Bureau, about 10 million Americans aged 18-20 will be eligible to vote for the first time in 2020. The universities in the Big XII athletic conference are committed to mobilizing our students to vote. 

Why is student voting important? First, voting is a habit. Young voters have historically turned out to vote at a lower rate than older voters—about 15 percent less. We want young voters to develop voting as a habit, to be familiar with candidates and their positions on issues, and to be engaged members of the community. Second, numerous public opinion polls show that, while they are not monolithic, young voters consistently rank climate change, student debt relief, legalization of marijuana, and racism as issue priorities. Helping students understand that their votes—and vote choices—matter is part of our imperative as educators. Third, young voters are disproportionately impacted by voting laws. They may not realize, for instance, that they have to complete a new voter registration form every time they change residence halls or apartments. Similarly, students may not be aware of voter registration deadlines, know how to request an absentee ballot, or be familiar with what they might need to take to the polling place as ID or proof of residence. 

Historically, Iowa State’s student voter turnout rate has been close to the national average, in part because Iowa allows same day registration. Yet, there is always room for improvement. Iowa State has an engaged student body; however, the many groups promoting voter registration or turnout have not been coordinated in the past, leading to inconsistent messaging and some duplication of efforts. This year, President Wintersteen has appointed a campus leader to develop a voting coalition and coordinate efforts.

Meanwhile, at the University of Oklahoma, while student voter registration rates hover around 72 percent, the overall voting rate historically lags about four to six percentage points behind the national average of all institutions that participate in the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE). However, this isn’t surprising since as a state, Oklahoma consistently turns out at one of the lowest rates in the country (Oklahoma Policy Institute). It can be challenging for students to navigate the restrictive voting laws in Oklahoma, with no online or same-day voter registration, its strict voter ID laws, and its requirement that absentee ballots be notarized. The efforts to combat these challenges, like a concerted effort to build a student organization called Oklahoma Votes to build a coalition around voter registration, education, and mobilization, have met with moderate success seeing a 17.5 percent increase in the voting rate between 2014 and 2018 (OU NSLVE Report).

Campus voting advocates know that there is great value to collaboration and information sharing—and friendly competition makes our work fun. With the inception and success of other athletic conferences like SoCon Votes and the Big 10 Voting Challenge, the dream to bring together the 10 campuses across the Big XII Conference started in 2018 with the efforts of Kassie Phebillo, former program coordinator of TX Votes, and TX Votes at the University of Texas at Austin. 

Starting an initiative like this might sound easy, as the institutions are already aligned through the conference structure, but in practice the Big XII institutions vary widely in more ways than one which means the way this work is facilitated on each campus looks vastly different. For reference, the Big XII spans five states and two time zones and consists of two private and eight public institutions with enrollment varying from around 11,000 at Texas Christian University all the way up to approximately 52,000 at the University of Texas at Austin. Initial challenges of finding the right voices on each campus to spearhead this new initiative and the close timing to the midterm elections that fall meant the challenge didn’t get fully off the ground in 2018. 

Fast forward to the beginning of 2020 and we find higher education primed for conversations about voter and civic engagement especially in the wake of the largest youth voter turnout in a mid-term year since the 1970s, youth activism soaring with nation-wide protests related to the Black Lives Matter movement, continued discussions of youth lead initiatives like March for Our Lives, and the added challenges of the COVID-19 global pandemic. These differences along with the added leadership of the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge is why Big XII Votes is ready for take-off in 2020. 

This year, all Big XII institutions are building coalitions of faculty, staff, and students who will collaborate on messaging and coordinating registration and turnout efforts. Another focus is to ensure that students receive accurate messages about how to vote safely during a pandemic. To this end, each of us is emphasizing early registration and providing information about early voting (where allowed), if our university remains open, and absentee voting, should it convert to remote learning during the fall semester. 

While our institutions may vary greatly in some ways, the Big XII Conference binds us together through more than just athletics and serves as a way to collaborate on new ideas, benchmark our goals and celebrate our achievements as we continue to strive towards increased voter participation of our students. We share a passion for sports. Yet in 2020, the Big XII extends its friendly rivalries from the court, track, rink, and field to the voting booth.