What’s holding half of the college vote back?

Apprehension about how or whether to vote

This story was produced as part of the NEW (Northeast Wisconsin) News Lab, a consortium of six news outlets covering northeastern Wisconsin.

GREEN BAY – The American Psychiatric Association’s 2024 annual mental health poll showed that adults are feeling increasingly anxious in 2024 — up 6% from 2023, which also saw an increase of 5% from 2022.

What are the issues making Americans lose sleep at night?

The economy and gun violence made the top of the list, but so did the U.S. election, with 73% of respondents reporting some anxiety over the November vote.

Couple that with a first-time voter, who has been subject to news stories about falsified elections and Wisconsin’s position as a swing state, and it sets up the perfect storm for apprehension.

And then there is the political landscape.

In a Press Times’ online poll for college-aged students, 54% viewed their community as polarized, 46% rated it right down the middle and zero registered as seeing the political landscape as tolerant.

Nearly 54% said that they could not openly discuss politics within their family and 77% said they felt pressured to vote in the same way as their parents/other family members.

The anxiety closes off young voters from those conversations, leaving them unsure and apprehensive about how or whether to vote.

But, Green Bay City Clerk Celestine Jeffreys said that there are also other concerns at play.

“So, one of the things that I had discovered in talking to our community partners was that there was, especially people who are in college, essentially, there is some anxiety about — how do you actually vote? What are the mechanics of voting?” Jeffreys said.

“But it’s not just making your choice, like in your head, right? But you’ve got the ballot in your hand, and now what do you do with it? What happens if you make a mistake? Where does your ballot go? If you vote absentee, if you vote at polls, what happens to your ballot after that?”

Will anxiety keep them away?

The March 2024 Harvard Youth Poll surveyed 2,010 18- to 29-year-old participants nationwide, with a little over half — 53% — indicating that they will “definitely be voting” in the November election.

That leaves 47% of them uncertain.

St. Norbert College senior Jo Mahlum said that’s why she felt “a little bit” of anxiety over voting, but she will still be headed to the polls on Nov. 5.

“I feel like I don’t know what each candidate represents and where they truthfully stand on certain issues,” Mahlum said. “I plan to vote in person for the state of Wisconsin because my school makes it very easy to vote.”

Mahlum even operates as a democracy fellow, with Bethany Jobe, at St. Norbert College to assist other students at the Norman Miller Center and help them register to vote.

More information on the process at their De Pere campus is available at www.snc.edu/millercenter/voting.html.

UW-Green Bay also offers on-campus guidance, as well as a polling location in the college’s Kress Events Center. More information is available at www.uwgb.edu/vote.

The Press Times poll showed that for those individuals who were not familiar with the candidates and/or positions, 61.5% would pick according to a party and still vote.

And that vote could make a difference in November.

The League of Women Voters said college-aged voters have the power to influence the election — voters aged 18-34 will make up over 40 million potential voters in 2024, nearly one-fifth of the American electorate.

Making a mistake

Jeffreys said that making a mistake at the polls should not be a barrier to voting as it can easily be addressed.

“So if you make a mistake in your ballot, you go to the poll worker and say, ‘I’ve made a mistake on my ballot,’ and then the poll worker will alert the chief inspector, who’s the person in charge. The chief inspector will ask you to put a tear in your ballot. The chief inspector will note the fact that it’s a spoiled ballot and put that ballot with a tear in it in a special envelope that they deliver to us at the end of election night,” she said.

“It happens more often during the August partisan primary, because you have to stay within a party. You can’t cross over. So that happens more often during August, but yeah, people make mistakes. You know, it just happens.”

So, what happens with an early voting ballot (in-person, absentee voting) or an absentee ballot?

Jeffreys said that in-person, absentee voting ballots have a label with a barcode and a corresponding envelope.

“So, if somebody makes a mistake in early voting, we have to basically deactivate this ballot certificate, issue them a new one and then they can put their ballot inside a new envelope with a new label, a new certificate,” she said.

“By mail, somebody needs to tell us before they give it to us because once we receive it, they can’t ‘spoil’ it anymore.

“So, this person calls us up [and the ballot is] still on their kitchen table. ‘Hey, I’ve made a mistake on my ballot. What do I do?’ We’re going to deactivate this certificate and send them another one. But if they say they submitted to us we’ve scanned it in, they say, ‘Oh, no, I’ve made a mistake on my ballot.’ Well, you’ve submitted your ballot, you can’t change it now.”

Options for voting location

College students can register in their hometown or where they attend college.

You can live in more than one place but are only allowed to vote once.

The following information is from myvote.wi.gov.

Choosing between your hometown or your college town

If you are going to college in a different city than your hometown, here are things you might consider when deciding where to vote:

• Which location is more convenient for you?
• Who is on the ballot in each place?
• Are there local policies or particular issues that are important to you in either place?

Where you register to vote will not affect your federal financial aid, including FAFSA, Pell Grants, Perkins or Stafford loans. It may affect whether you qualify for in-state tuition.

Voting in your hometown

Even if you’re away at school for most of the year, you may have the option to vote in your hometown.

• Register to vote using your permanent address in your hometown.
• Use your college address as your mailing address on your registration.
• Ask for a mail ballot if you’re unable to vote in person.

Voting in a different town in your home state

If you attend college in your home state or territory, but in a different town, you may have the option to vote there.

After confirming your eligibility, you can register to vote using the street address of the building where you live, either on or off campus.

Don’t use a campus mailbox address to register, but you can use a campus mailbox as your mailing address.

If you are already registered to vote in your hometown, update your voter registration with your college address.

You may also ask for an absentee or mail ballot if you’re unable to vote in person or would simply prefer to vote by mail.

For more information, visit myvote.wi.gov.

This story is part of the NEW (Northeast Wisconsin) News Lab’s fifth series, covering issues important to voters in the region. The lab is a local news collaboration in northeastern Wisconsin made up of six news organizations: the Green Bay Press-Gazette, Appleton Post-Crescent, FoxValley365, The Press Times, Wisconsin Public Radio and Wisconsin Watch. The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay’s Journalism Department is an educational partner. Microsoft is providing financial support to the Greater Green Bay Community Foundation and Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region to fund the initiative. The mission of the lab is to “collaborate to identify and fill information gaps to help residents explore ways to improve their communities and lives — and strengthen democracy.”

GRB: What’s holding half of the college vote back? Apprehension about how or whether to vote