Recognizing that young voters have recently turned out in high numbers, and in overwhelming support of Democrats, Republicans are ramping up efforts to suppress youth voting access ahead of the 2024 election cycle.

In Idaho, Republican governor Brad Little signed a bill that prohibits students from using a student ID card as a form of voter identification. In Ohio, out-of-state students could be impacted by a new bill that requires voter ID in the form of an unexpired in-state driver’s license, state ID, passport, or military ID card.

And in Florida, Republican governor Ron DeSantis signed an election omnibus bill into law that restricts third-party voter registration organizations by requiring them to register with the state every election cycle, directly impacting many voter engagement groups that aim to increase youth and student voter participation. The bill also prohibits non-US citizens from “handling” voter registration applications for third-party groups. In July, a federal judge blocked this and another part of the new bill. The same bill also requires first-time voters without a social security number or state ID to vote in person, which voting rights advocates say could pose a challenge for some young voters in the Sunshine State.

Attempts by GOP lawmakers to change election laws come as prominent Republicans denounce on-campus voting options and resources that make voting easier for young people. The Washington Post reported earlier this year that elections lawyer Cleta Mitchell told a roomful of GOP donors that there needs to be tighter parameters around on-campus voting. And 2024 presidential candidate and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy has even proposed the idea of raising the voting age to 25 for everyone except those who engage in civil service work or pass a test.

But while high-powered Republicans are trying their best to dissuade young people from going to the polls, students and youth vote organizers are pushing back. From legal action to robust volunteer programs and on-campus voting access education, young people across the country are signaling that they’ll do whatever it takes to ensure that their votes are counted and their voices are heard.

Babe Vote, a youth voter engagement organization in Idaho, along with the League of Women Voters of Idaho, is suing the state over recent changes to election laws that prohibit using student IDs as a form of voter ID, arguing that those changes violate the state constitution, which guarantees all Idahoans the right to suffrage.

In March, Saumya Sarin, a 19-year-old youth vote organizer with Babe Vote, spoke at a press briefing about the group’s lawsuit: “Idaho should be focused on increasing turnout, especially among groups that have traditionally voted in lower numbers, like young people. We should not be making it harder for eligible voters to cast their ballots. It is unacceptable if one eligible voter is prevented from exercising his or her constitutional right to vote,” she said at the time.

In a conversation with Teen Vogue, Sarin said, “Democracy works best when citizens participate, and are active members, and it’s really, really important to make sure that citizens have that ability because voting is one of the rights that this country was founded on.”

Under a new law, only tribal IDs, concealed-carry licenses, a passport or other federal photo ID, or an Idaho driver’s license or ID card could be used to register to vote or cast a ballot. Sarin said she knows many students without passports who would have to obtain a form of identification, which is not always an easy process, especially without access to transportation. “That process sets up a whole lot of barriers,” she said.

Idaho has seen a major uptick in teen voter registration numbers since 2018. Data from the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts showed a remarkable 66% uptick in voter registrations for 18- to 19-year-olds between November 2018 and September 2022.

“Not to say that Babe Vote was the only organization responsible for this, but I think we’re really proud of how that has happened,” Sarin said. “And we’re excited to continue our efforts to make sure that young people and people who have other socioeconomic barriers to voting are able to vote and to get registered.” 

In Florida, Monica Bustinza, the Democracy Programs director for the youth civic engagement group Engage Miami, said groups looking to register Florida voters will see new barriers now that Florida has enacted its most recent election bill. Bustinza is particularly focused on a stipulation in the new law that requires third-party voter registration organizations to register with the state every election cycle. Bustinza worries that due to what she called “this administrative obstacle” third-party groups “may be deterred from engaging in voter registration, resulting in fewer opportunities and options for individuals to register to vote, especially minority voters.”

Bustinza believes third-party voter registration organizations are necessary in order to register as many young voters as possible in the state. “Our government doesn’t have the capacity to be on every campus and speak to every student,” she told Teen Vogue. “Why would you make it more difficult for us to be on college campuses and help register people to vote? That, for me, is like an attack on third-party voter registrations, but it’s also an attack on potential voters themselves because who will motivate them?”

But Engage Miami will continue its efforts to involve young voters in South Florida. “It’s just so important for us to be out there in the community,” she added.

These restrictions aren’t being passed in only a handful of states, nor do restrictive voting bills only target young people. Voting rights in many states across the country are under attack. “The reason why [restrictive] voting rights laws are happening is Shelby v Holder, the Supreme Court case that really gutted the Voting Rights Act and changed the voting rights laws in this country and allows a state to pass these suppression measures,” Rotimi Adeoye, a voting rights advocate and political strategist, told Teen Vogue, speaking broadly about the slate of restrictive voting laws across the country. According to the liberal Brennan Center for Justice, the 2013 Shelby v Holder decision eliminated an integral part of the Voting Rights Act that required areas with a history of racial discrimination to submit changes in election laws to the US Department of Justice or a federal court in Washington, DC, for review before they were enacted. That decision, Adeoye said, “has led to the onslaught of voting rights attacks we’ve seen.”

News about student voting access isn’t all negative, however. While in many cases Republican-backed laws that put up barriers to student voting have passed, others have failed. In New Hampshire, Republicans proposed a bill that would have prevented out-of-state students (and students at private universities) from being able to register to vote in the state, but the bill didn’t make it past committee. In Virginia, a Republican state lawmaker introduced a bill that would reverse the course on pre-voter registration (currently, teenagers can pre-register to vote at age 17 if they will be 18 by the time of the election). But that bill also died in committee. And in Texas, a Republican-backed bill to ban on-campus polling locations is stalled.

At the same time, Democratic governor-led states are making it easier for all citizens (including students and young people) to vote by expanding vote-by-mail policies and adding polling places on college campuses. Take New York, which added on-campus or near-campus polling locations last year for campuses with 300 or more registered voters last year, or Minnesota, which increased pre-voter registration this year for voters turning 18 ahead of an election.

When you look at the state of student voting access across the country, it’s as if it’s “two distinct stories,” said Mike Burns, national director of the nonpartisan Fair Elections Center’s Campus Vote Project. He explained that during the pandemic, a number of states saw that when you meet voters where they are by allowing early voting and vote-by-mail options, the turnout increased. They passed laws to expand voter access.

On the other hand, Burns said, “The really troubling concern is that there are a faction of states, driven largely by what seems to be partisanship, trying to restrict access to voting.” He added that in “a number of those states, we’ve seen a focus within that restriction… targeting young people, and students in particular, as one of the groups they’re singling out when they’re figuring specific ways they can adjust the election laws to make it harder for those groups to access registration and voting.”

Asked why students are being targeted by lawmakers who are looking to curtail their path to the ballot box, Burns said he believes it’s the result of the perceived progressive leaning of many young voters. “I think there’s a perception about the politics of young people and those partisan actors are attempting to restrict who gets to vote [so they can] stay in power without having to adjust their positions to meet the needs or demands of their communities,” he said.

Since 2012, the Campus Vote Project has worked to expand access to student voting rights through efforts to “institutionalize student voting by working directly with colleges and universities across the country.” In recent years, this has included a fellowship program for student organizers and education on college campuses through campus voting guides in states across the country. As more states look to eliminate protocols that make voting easier for students, their efforts have become more challenging.

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