Determining the Results: How Young People Can Impact Major Elections

Every vote counts. 

When young people vote in large numbers, we determine the results of elections.

These beliefs inspired me to create and help lead a voter registration campaign at my college this past October for the midterm elections.

As a leader of Cornell University Democrats, we initiated partnerships with other student groups: Alpha Phi Alpha, Planned Parenthood Generation Action, and Cornell Progressives.

The goal? Engage other student leaders in the process of voter registration. From there, we would work together to register students at this 20,000+ student university.

The best part? These organizations were so excited. We heard responses like, “This is a great idea!” “We would love to work together!” 

We began by meeting together and creating a plan. First, we had to ensure that all of the people registering students to vote understood the voter registration process. It only takes 10 minutes to register someone to vote, but there are many details to it. So, after reviewing the process on the election website, we spoke with the County’s Election Commissioner to clarify some remaining questions. It was critical to understand the process before doing anything else.

Then, we broke up into four teams, and each team was assigned a different cafe on campus. Then, we had one-on-one conversations with students at these places. 

We started by asking students about their voter registration status.

If they weren’t registered, we would say something like, “We can register you in 10 minutes. We are in a district with close races that will come down to a few hundred votes. You can help decide this election.”

These conversations resulted in meaningful dialogue, sparked interest in the upcoming competitive congressional race, and created a lot of newly registered voters.

The majority of these students had never registered to vote before, so their participation in this election cycle was a major moment in their story of democracy.

I spoke with Santiago, who had just turned 18 years old. When I approached him, introduced myself, and asked him his voter registration status, his face lit up with enthusiasm. He wanted to register, and he wanted to vote! A few weeks later, on Election Day, he texted me a selfie of him proudly wearing his “I Voted” sticker. 

I received smiling selfie after smiling selfie from students wearing “I Voted” stickers. These photos depicted young people deciding our country’s leaders.

Democracy was on the ballot. Many candidates supported broad restrictions on mail voting, reduced voting rights for incarcerated people, and reduced polling locations in Black and Brown communities.

In the end, our State Senate race came down to 1,000 votes, and the candidate who supported voting rights, and rejected the above anti-democracy policies, won. 

I am proud to have contributed to that outcome. 

I am also excited to have more conversations with my peers about what they care about, what changes they want to see to our democracy, and how to vote.  

When young people vote in large numbers, we determine the results of elections. 

It’s what happened at my college, it’s what happens in many communities, and it’s what will happen in your community when you get to work.