Organizers are working to buck a historically lackluster trend of young voter turnout with messaging and a sustained presence on college campuses.
NextGen, a left-leaning group focused on registering young people from all political perspectives, reports registering nearly 252,000 voters this election cycle.
“With the margin of victory being so slim, these college students, if they turn out, will play a decisive role in the Senate race,” said Kate Frauenfelder, a spokeswoman for NextGen Nevada. NextGen, supported by billionaire Democrat Tom Steyer, is investing $2 million statewide in getting young people to register and vote.
Voters ages 18 to 24 made up 10 percent of the state’s active registered voter population in September compared to 9.4 percent at the same point in the last midterm election, in 2014. Those ages 25 to 34 represent 15.6 percent compared to 14.6 percent in September 2014. Many are Democrats, with nonpartisans outnumbering Republicans.
Active voters ages 65 and older are Nevada’s biggest age group by far, leaning Republican and making up roughly the same proportion of active registered voters as in 2014. These voters have much stronger turnout than 18- to 34-year-olds. Nationally, more than 55 percent of people ages 65 and older voted in the 2014 midterm compared to 39 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds and 15.9 percent for 25- to 34-year-olds, the lowest turnout by age group.
Tia Yap, regional organizing director of NextGen Nevada, said people should vote as soon as possible and not wait until Election Day.
“This may be a midterm election, but it has never been more important to go out and vote,” Yap said. “This is arguably the most important election of my lifetime at least. In 2014, 67,000 people voted in the first week of early voting here. And in the past three days at least 73,000 people have voted.”
Yap said there are more eligible voters among young people than any other generation, with 70 million young people who are eligible to vote in the U.S. this year.
“Young people do have the power to decide elections if they just show up,” Yap said. “Historically, young people vote at half the rate of older generations, but this year it’s going to be different, I know it, and on Nov. 7, the day after the election, politicians will have no choice but to listen to young people, because we will have shown up.”
Danielle Fitzgerald, a NextGen organizer at UNLV and 2016 political science graduate, said the group was on campus registering students to vote and is now working to get out the vote.
Nearby, a polling location at Boulevard Mall will be open every day of early voting. The closest Election Day voting site to UNLV, Fitzgerald said, will be the Cambridge Recreation Center at 3930 Cambridge Street, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
On Oct. 31, Nov. 1 and Nov. 2 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. people can vote on campus at Lied Library, located on Harmon Street, east of Swenson Street. Fitzgerald said NextGen is hosting booths in the free speech area near the library’s polling place to inform students about the election and encourage them to turn out.
The free speech area cuts a path in front of the library and extends to the student recreation center, Fitzgerald said, bordering major classroom buildings and the library. The group also focuses on the student union area of campus.
“We want to get their attention and we want there to accessibility and awareness about early vote on campus,” Fitzgerald said. “We are going to do that through some events.”
On Halloween, Fitzgerald said the group is using the holiday as a theme and setting up a photo booth. On Nov. 1, the group is giving out free chicken fingers in the free speech zone. On Nov. 2, the group is hosting a hopscotch and pizza event. They plan to tape a hopscotch grid on the free speech area of UNLV to raise awareness of early voting on campus, Fitzgerald.
“If you give young people free food, you’re going to get their attention,” Fitzgerald said. “And we can use that time that they give us to talk about the election.”
Fitzgerald said major issues among students are affordable health care, immigration, the cost of college and gun safety. Young people advocated for gun control in March for Our Lives protests around the country after a fatal Florida school shooting in February.
“All of these events that we’re doing, we just want students to know that voting is accessible and it can be fun,” Fitzgerald said. “If that means that we have to kind of make ourselves look silly and dress up in Halloween costumes or give them free food, we’ll do it, because there’s too much at stake this year and there’s too many issues that affect young people, so we just want to remind them of their power.”
Early voting runs from Oct. 20 to Nov. 2. Find a list of places to cast ballots at the Clark County Election Department website.