Oct. 13—GRAND FORKS — At the end of a September town hall event hosted by UND’s Public Affairs Club, Erik Bristow stood by with a handful of flyers explaining to students how to vote outside their home.
Most of the pilots stayed at Bristow. Most of the attendees at the town hall, held in Nistler Hall, were over 50, and many of the students who showed up were members of the student body.
“UND is a tough place to market to students, but we did get a few people from around campus coming in through word of mouth,” he said. “So that was exciting.”
Bristow, vice president of the UND Public Affairs Club, hopes to increase student involvement in the political process ahead of the November elections.
He and his club face an uphill battle: Students face higher barriers to voting than other North Dakotans, and local observers are sending mixed signals about whether to tune in for this election.
It remains to be seen whether they will have an impact in November.
“Youth election turnout is always lower,” said David Jendrysik, a professor of political science at UND. “Trying to get the youth vote out is difficult for a lot of reasons.”
Chief among the issues is a state law that requires voters to possess a driver’s license or ID with a current address.
While that isn’t a problem for most voters, many students attend school in a different community than where they grew up, and often don’t update their ID when they move.
“It’s not difficult to update the address on your driver’s license,” said Barbara Headrick, president of the North Dakota chapter of the League of Women Voters. “But as a student you’re only there part of the year, and it’s a great driver’s license wherever you go, so you don’t have to think about changing your address.”
Students used to be able to show their student card as proof of residency, but the legislature changed the law in 2013.
Assuming students are even interested in voting. Sadie Hanson, the chairwoman of District 42 Republicans — the state district where UND is located and where many students live during the school year — says she didn’t see much student involvement in the political process during her college years.
This year, however, she says she’s hearing more from potential voters, such as members of the fraternity for which she is house director.
“I think this year is unique in a way where I think students are paying more attention,” she said, citing concerns about issues like the cost of living and the possibility of tuition increases.
Bristow is more skeptical. He is a political science major and organizer of the Democratic-Nonpartisan League. He says students are aligning themselves with national politics and some national measures, such as marijuana legalization, but they aren’t necessarily getting involved at the local level.
“I really haven’t seen students engaging with local politics outside of the classroom,” he said.
In this election, students who have not updated their ID can request a voting certificate from UND confirming they are a current resident of Grand Forks. University spokesman David Dodds reported that 171 students had registered for this on Friday.
That doesn’t necessarily mean students don’t vote. They can request absentee ballots or find other ways to vote at home.
It does mean they won’t be able to vote in local elections for the House and Senate, although that’s where they could likely have the most impact.
Because election turnout in Grand Forks is relatively low — the county had a 36% turnout rate in the 2022 general election, compared to 43% statewide — races for local seats are often decided by a few hundred votes.
“You only need a few thousand votes to win in those races,” Jendrysik noted. “So if you can mobilize a few hundred people…”
