The Lack of Voter Participation Plaguing NYU

Written By Taylor Gayner

On the morning of November 8th, 2022, I got dressed and ready for the day as usual. Except today, I got to wear a new accessory. I proudly peeled off the paper, and placed the sticky side of my starry blue and red “I Voted” sticker onto my tshirt, and slipped my jacket overtop. I was excited to be matching all the other New Yorkers with our stickers that we got for taking part in such an important day.  

I arrived at my first class of the day – an introductory creative writing workshop. Like all other days, my professor started the class with an “icebreaker” or a “kick off” to that day’s class. 

On this morning of November 8th, 2022, my professor asked the class “to share with everyone if we had already voted, and if not, what our plan to vote was for the day.” My sticker and I were eager to answer the question, as well as to hear all the responses from my classmates. 

As we went around the classroom in a circle answering her question, the smile underneath my mask shrunk smaller and smaller as I heard my peers’ responses. The room was a cesspool of “I didn’t vote”, “I didn’t know today was election day”, and “my ballot is back home in [whatever suburb of a different state they were from]”.

I was one of two students in my class that voted in the midterm election. 

Once the class was over and I went about my day, I was left with so many thoughts and questions. How did some people not know today was election day? Don’t people care? If my peers in a creative writing workshop at a liberal and progressive university like NYU aren’t voting… then who is? 

My mind was overflowing with questions, so I decided to take them to the internet. With one quick search about “NYU voter turnout 2022,” I was quickly bombarded with a Washington Square News article who’s headline read “Nearly half of eligible NYU students won’t vote in midterms, WSN poll finds.” 

My heart sank as I read the article. Writer Adrianna Nehme stated that “many students who are eligible to vote have chosen not to cast their ballots in the midterm elections on Tuesday, Nov. 8.” Later on in the article Nehme revealed that, through a WSN survey of 103 students, “27.2% said they had already voted, 26.2% were preparing to and 46.6% did not plan to at all.” Neither my creative writing class nor this small survey can account for the greater NYU student population, however I was disheartened to see this continued lack of interest in voting among eligible students at NYU in any capacity. 

I remain puzzled as to why this disinterest in voting is present amongst a portion of NYU undergraduate students when so many internet and social media-based voter campaigns were created to target this exact population. 

NYU Votes is the school’s voter campaign that, according to their website, “aims to ensure that all eligible voters in the NYU community are able to cast their vote either in-person or by mail.” For many months prior to the 2022 midterm elections, NYU Votes shared a plethora of voter resources including links to register, lists of key dates and deadlines to know, email campaigns about where to vote around NYU, social media posts with helpful information, and even videos describing and explaining various voting methods in the simplest terms. NYU Votes made themselves known on social media and beyond. According to Nehme’s article, “the voting rate among NYU’s student body has increased over the last several years, rising from 9% in 2014 to 37% in 2018.” However, NYU Vote’s efforts have not been successful enough to bring these numbers to where they should be. 

There has also been a large effort outside of the NYU community to motivate members of Gen Z to vote through the use of social media. According to a Time article titled “How Gen Z Held Off the Red Wave” by Ashley Aylward, she explains how voter campaigns and candidates themselves have made huge efforts to reach and connect with the younger generation through social media to encourage them to vote – and according to this article regarding the most recent midterm elections, it worked. Like NYU Votes has attempted to do, Aylward explains that “to activate Gen Z-ers, it’s essential to meet them where they are on social media” and that “young people want political candidates to engage with them online” because, according to the Time poll with the Campus Vote Project, “college students found their top source of information was social media.” Whether it was Olivia Rodrigo’s trip to the White House to visit President Joe Biden or U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Twitch stream of a game of Among Us to promote voting to young generations, the political community is embracing the power of social media. 

Beyond the scope of NYU student voters, these social media-based campaigns seem to be working for young people across the country. According to Aylward, “Gen Z-ers sustained their record-breaking 2018 turnout during the 2022 midterm election, opting for Democratic House candidates by 25 points and limiting Republican gains. Voters under the age of 29 broke for Democrats and helped many win in battleground states.” This year, Gen Z played a massive role in highly important decisions that shaped the makeup of our political landscape. 

Media, specifically social media, has been found to be the leading cause for this notable increase in youth voter participation on a national level. Many have attributed social media’s powerful capabilities as a public forum for people of varying backgrounds, beliefs, and upbringings to come together and share opinions and personal stories. This new-age media technology gives young voters access to thoughts that were previously never accessible. 

Additionally, social media has become a place for young people to interact with other user’s content, creating an enhanced sense of unity between young activists and voters. One of the main examples of this is through the social media campaign “Gen-Z for Change.” They describe themselves as “a collective of Gen-Z activists that leverage the power of social media to drive progressive change.” Some of the many ways they do this is through establishing a presence on various social media platforms and producing content ranges from content collabs with congress people to Twitter fundraisers. The goal of Gen-Z for Change is to “tap into our coalition of hundreds of social media influencers on Tik Tok, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube that reach more than half a billion followers.” They believe that in today’s age, social media has given us a “new model for community organization” that “amplifies our activists’ ground game.” Many members of Gen Z have embraced the unifying powers of social media to bring young people together and motivate them to vote and work for social and political change. But it does not seem to be strong enough to motivate all of NYU. 

Ultimately, campaigns, internet resources, and social media posts aside, NYU voter turnout lies in the hands of students.

Our votes matter and our votes are powerful. This year, voters flipped both Houses of Congress so that Republicans now control the House of Representatives while Democrats control the Senate. These are major changes that most of us NYU students have the ability to play a role in making. If you care about the makeup of our government, or human rights issues like abortion coverage, same-sex marriage laws, and affirmative action, you have the ability to play a role in deciding these major aspects of our country. 

So, as the 2023 local elections and 2024 presidential elections approach, I encourage you to utilize our internet and social media resources to our advantage: 

Taylor Gayner

Senior studying Media, Culture & Communication and Creative Writing. Inspired by culture and great story telling, her passions include writing, reading, digital media and the performing arts. On the daily, Taylor enjoys running and walking around the city, listening to Gracie Abrams and trying new Thai restaurants!

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