The Youth Vote
The Youth Vote
Top Story: You’re Not Welcome: The Youth Vote and its 2024 Enemies
Strict ID laws, cumbersome residency rules, half a dozen hurdles to overcome before you can cast your vote…
It would seem that any political party (Hello, GOP) that would subject young voters to such challenges - doesn’t really want them to vote.
Covering this is important.
So, this week Reporting Right is offering a primer on letting folks in your community know when political forces are trying to keep young voters from voicing their opinion at the polls.
We think you should be covering this because suppressing the youth vote is anti-democratic. And it’s wrong.
Every media outlet ought to be able to report that without reservation.
What You Need to Know About Efforts to Keep Young People from Voting
Young people fought hard to earn the right to vote.
Extreme conservatives have long sought to keep folks from voting. Young people is but one subset that they target.
Groups that protect the right to vote know this is a huge problem. So do youth get-out-the-vote groups.
STORY IDEAS
What have GOP-led state legislatures done to keep young voters from the polls in your state?
Maybe, they are confusing young voters.
Maybe, they are trying to make early voting harder for them by closing polling stations, or rejecting non-emergency mail-in-voting for students.
Maybe, they are passing strict ID laws in an effort to keep them from voting.
How provisional ballots became the new voter suppression tool.
Provisional ballots given to young voters are rejected at much higher rates than those given to older voters. A coincidence? We think not. Cover this.
The youth vote is up. So, why do Republicans want the number of voting booths on college campuses to decline?
Hold folks accountable for this plan. Talk to students, voting rights groups, lawyers and the officials who support these voter suppression efforts. Ask why!
More:
Think the GOP likes voters? Think again.
College Student Voter Fact Sheet.
Suppressing the youth vote is racial.
Also In the News
Leonard Leo pushes conservative groups to ‘weaponize’ their message
How a community dealt with an election skeptic’s challenge to hundreds of voter registrations
Want to know what the MAGA-led Supreme Court has in store for us in 2024/2025?
We’re Listening To
“Republicans Don’t Want Students to Vote” by Democracy Docket
Comic Relief
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See You Next Week!
Our Staff
Executive Editor Kyle Spencer
Managing Editor Christen Gall
Our Board of Advisors
Alex Aronson, executive director of Court Accountability
David Armiak, research director for the Center for Media and Democracy
Connor Gibson, founder of Grassrootbeer Investigations
Maurice Cunningham, retired associate professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts at Boston and author of Dark Money and The Politics of School Privatization.
Reed Gallen, co-founder of The Lincoln Project
Isaac Kamola, associate professor of political science at Trinity College, founder of Faculty First Responders and co-author of Free Speech and Koch Money, Manufacturing a Campus Culture War
Nancy MacLean, William H. Chafe distinguished professor of history and public policy at Duke University and author of Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America
Ralph Wilson, founder of the Corporate Genome Project and co-author of Free Speech and Koch Money, Manufacturing a Campus Culture War
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