ONU students get out the vote

ADA — Students at Ohio Northern University have been getting their peers — as well as high school students — excited about voting. A recent report from the Institute for Democracy & Higher Education found that student voting at ONU rose 12 points to 65% in 2020 from a rate of 53% in 2016. The university also earned a Silver Seal from the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge for its nonpartisan student voter participation efforts in the 2020 election. Noting the increase in voting among her peers, student Hailey Trimpey said the stereotype may be that college students aren't interested in politics or voting — but statistics and research clearly indicate otherwise. Trimpey is a student fellow at ONU's Institute for Civics and Public Policy (ICAPP). She and other political science students have been hearing a lot of questions from other students about voting — so, along with getting them registered, they're also helping keep them informed. Trimpey and another ICAPP fellow visited Ada High School, where they registered 18-year-old students to vote. They plan to go back in the spring, she said, adding that the high school students "definitely seemed eager" to become voters. Kennedy Aikey, another ICAPP fellow, said the group also set up a table to register ONU students to vote during the welcome weekend for new freshmen, many of whom are just turning 18. They repeated the effort on National Voter Registration Day. She said ONU is working with the Campus Voter Project to get ONU certified as a "voter-friendly campus." Using their voice Robert Alexander, Ph.D., the founding director of ICAPP, agreed a stereotype exists that young people are "not very engaged" with politics — and, historically, they have voted less than the rest of the population. But young people are engaged in other ways, he said, with today's young people being more likely to volunteer than previous generations. Alexander said politics has become "pretty toxic in recent years," drawing more young people to participate. He said people feel it truly matters if one side wins over the other, and voting offers them "some level of control" in uncertain times. He noted that today's college students have not felt in control of many other aspects of their world. For example, after living through the Great Recession as young children, there's a feeling that "economic angst" has been "hanging over their heads" for a long time, Alexander said. Voting, like volunteerism, is a way to find a sense of control. "They're finding their voice in a variety of ways," Alexander said. ICAPP fellows at ONU weren't able to physically get people registered to vote readily last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, they put up QR codes for students to scan for registration information. Alexander said many of ONU's athletic teams also got involved in the effort. He said the fact that college students generally move from one town to another is one obstacle to getting them voting. He tends to encourage ONU students to register to vote in Ada so that, instead of being visitors to Ada, they "see it as their home." But, he noted, some prefer to vote in their home communities. The "conventional wisdom" is that "people turn out to vote when they're upset about things," Alexander said. He anticipates the high turnout we saw in 2016 and 2020 to persist, noting that the most recent off-year election still had a "pretty robust" turnout in many places despite only local races being on the ballot. (Alexander also anticipates a high turnout in 2022.) Alexander said it's "exciting" to see political science students eager to register to vote as soon as they turn 18. At the same time, he cautions them to be aware that "our partisanship is blinding us to a lot of things." Both Democrats and Republicans, he said, tend to try to see the world as they want to see it. Alexander noted that elections can be decided by very small margins. "One's vote can absolutely matter" in either a national or local election, he said. And he said that, although it used to be said that "all politics is local," today it's more like "all politics are national." What national political figures are talking about that becomes what voters tend to talk about, too. Good citizens ONU students have also been working to educate on local elections. Alexander said ONU students organized a forum for Ada village council candidates, which helped them see the importance of local elections. ICAPP also wants to make these efforts more systemic. "Being a good citizen doesn't mean just voting every four years," Alexander said. He said participating in the process without understanding it "in my view isn't enough." So, he and his students are working to get people talking to each other. The hope is that people on opposite sides can get to where they are "opponents, but not enemies," he said. For Alexander, what has been most exciting has been seeing how students "take the ball and run with it." He feels in many cases, students are doing a better job communicating with each other on these difficult issues than many state and national leaders. Aikey and Trimpey, with a third ICAPP fellow, Kennedy Cook, recently authored ICAPP's eighth "Critical Questions" paper, focusing on voting rights. Trimpey said they strove to be as nonpartisan as possible when exploring the issue of voter rights. She said it is currently "seen as a very partisan issue" but "it doesn't have to be." Trimpey said it's important for young people to be involved, as "it's our futures" that are being decided. She and her peers want to make sure "our voices are being heard, early on." Arthurs: 419-427-8494