MINNEAPOLIS – As students walked to and from class at the University of Minnesota on Tuesday, they were able to make a pit stop at the polls as the Weisman Art Center transformed into an early voting spot serving hundreds of college voters as well as other Minneapolis residents.
A recent change in law by the state legislature allowed for the location of one day of early voting. It allows cities and counties to allow temporary polling places at colleges and universities upon request.
Organizers of the “Row the Vote” voter campaign said they visited several classrooms in the weeks leading up to Tuesday to educate their peers on how to register to vote and the process. Riley Hetland, director of civic engagement for the student government, said 12,000 students have made a pledge to vote and 2,000 have registered during those commitments.
She said she was happy with the turnout.
“Our students are lazy by nature. That goes for all students. We have a lot to do. We are very busy and sometimes voting goes over our heads, but by bringing the polls to the students it is really great to see how many people are taking advantage of the resource we have offered them,” Hetland said.
Young voters historically don’t vote at the same rate as older Americans, but turnout has been remarkably high in recent years, according to Tufts University’s Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement. Minnesota was first in the nation in overall voter turnout in the 2020 election and second in the nation in turnout among voters ages 18 to 29.
“It’s really disheartening to know that our voter turnout as young people is the lowest in the country [overall]The result is that many policies are not aimed at young people. So we at Row the Vote are trying to change that narrative,” she said.
WCCO spoke to voters Tuesday who said the economy, protecting democracy and preserving abortion rights are driving their decisions about how to vote. Election officials for the city of Minneapolis staffed the “pop-up” polling place in Weisman and any Minneapolis resident could vote there that day, not just students.
“Whatever we can do to make sure that this is not an obstacle course, it is something that is simple and good because one of the things we know is that when you can get a young person to vote for the first time, he or she eligible at age 18,19. 20 years or whatever, they’re much more likely to make it a lifelong habit,” said Steve Simon, Minnesota’s secretary of state.
State legislators has also approved automatic voter registration the past two years and allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to pre-register. They also created a permanent absentee voter list that automatically sends people who sign up a ballot each election, instead of requiring an application.
More than 330,000 Minnesotans have had their ballots accepted by local election offices for this election, according to the Secretary of State’s Office.
