With the 2020 election on the horizon, Assistant Professor of Political Science Andrea Vieux shared some information regarding voter turnout among young people.
“It is quite a bit lower,” Vieux said. “That being said, in Kansas, voter turnout among 18-29 year–olds went up 10% from the past midterm elections that we had in 2014, so we’re already seeing a spike in civic engagement among younger generations, but generally speaking, younger generations vote at rates that are about half that of older generations.”
Vieux is also involved with an upcoming event focusing on the subject of young people’s involvement in our political system.
“I am a co-advisor of the Political Engagement and Leadership Alliance, otherwise known as PELA, with the Community Learning Coordinator here on campus, whose name is Tara Karaim,” Vieux said. “Our organization is sponsoring Loud Light to come and give a presentation about the power of the youth vote. And the big picture is this: the two youngest generations in our system actually have a lot of political power if they choose to use it. So what they’re going to be here talking about is sort of the ‘power in numbers’ idea, and then kind of what younger generations can do to change the nature of politics in the United States.”
The Power of the Youth Vote event will be held on Tuesday, April 30th at 2:00 pm in the CoLab.
For the Campus Ledger, I’m Vincent Amiri.