New York mandated on-campus voting, which hasn’t happened
In 2022, Gov. Kathy Hochul passed legislation designed to address low youth voter turnout and decades of discrimination against college students by mandating polling places on college campuses with 300 or more registered voters. With the March 15 deadline for poll site assignments for this fall’s national election, the time is now to make the law’s promise a reality.
Since the passage of the 26th Amendment to the Constitution in 1971, which lowered the voting age from 21 to 18, boards of election in New York state have targeted college students, imposing onerous residency requirements, making discriminatory rules concerning addresses and making polling places inaccessible. Students have been targeted across the state at both public and private institutions, from SUNY campuses in Stony Brook and New
Paltz to private institutions like Marist and Skidmore.
The issue of youth voting remains acute, as demonstrated by turnout in the 2022 midterms. Only 30 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds voted, less than every other demographic, some 35 percent less than those 65 and over. Registration numbers also lag: in 2022, a mere 52 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds registered to vote.
. Hochul’s law was intended to help address this issue. It was hailed by voting rights activists who hoped it would improve voter turnout and halt discriminatory practices targeted at students. Unfortunately, as two recent studies show, state and local election administrators have not adequately prioritized or fully implemented this critical voter protection legislation.
A team of Rutgers Law School clinical students conducted a study demonstrating that there had only been a minor increase (2.2 percent) in the presence of on-campus poll sites between the 2018 and 2022 elections when the law went into effect. A follow-up study released recently by the Bard College Center for Civic Engagement found that there was a negligible change between the November 2022 elections and the November 2023 elections.
This is the interval during which for the first time the law mandating poll sites on college campus would be in effect for the
annual March 15 state deadline for assigning poll sites. The study identified only three campuses that added poll sites. In the case of Vassar College, this occurred only after a faculty member, working with the League of Women voters, sued the Dutchess County Board of Elections.
The Bard study also demonstrates that the overall picture of voting on college campuses remains bleak. Amongst institutions with more than 1,000 undergraduates, only 25 percent of the 64 private institutions surveyed have poll sites. The four-year public institutions surveyed have better rates, but still under 50 percent have poll sites for regular or early voting. Community colleges that have on-campus residences have very low rates, at around 16 percent, though this is explained in part by a lower density of residents. In all, 38 percent of public institutions surveyed have poll sites on campus. Action needs to be taken on three levels.
First, county boards of election should enforce the law: they should review the number of registrations on college campuses and engage with campus leaders to identify appropriate poll sites. Second, the state should identify means of enforcing the law. County boards of election are already required to have a liaison to college campuses and promote voter education and registration. These liaisons should be required to report to college officials on the number of on-campus registrants and to include such information in their annual reports to the state Board of Elections. A coalition of voting rights and good governance groups under the banner of Let NY Vote is engaging with state officials to advocate for greater enforcement.
Third, leaders at colleges need to demonstrate leadership. Since the founding of the republic, they have spoken about the link between education and democracy. They should make their actions meet their rhetoric. They should promote student voter registration prior to the March 15 deadline, work with student groups to encourage peer-led voter registration efforts, identify suitable poll sites on campus, and, most importantly, insist that local boards of election provide information about oncampus registrants (including students, faculty and staff ) and, where the 300-registrant threshold is met, demand a polling place on campus or in a suitable adjacent facility. By acting together, we can empower youth, strengthen our democracy, and realize the promise of both this innovative New York state law and the 26th Amendment.