In 2020, the Biden campaign considered the youth vote a key to victory. This year, news outlets have reported that efforts to get young people registered are far behind.
That’s partly why 24-year-old Alex Henkell-Malespin is on the College of Southern Nevada’s West Charleston campus trying to get students to register.
“The younger generations have a lot of voice and power to them,” he says. “We need to manifest that into the ballots.
Around 400,000 Nevada residents are between the ages of 20 and 29, according to census data. Nationally, more than 40 million people are 18 to 29. They are voters that both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump want on their side.
Henkell-Malespin and others says key issues for young people include gun safety, climate change, the economy, and reproductive rights. Those aren’t always issues that older generations put the same importance on, says Carolyn Salvador Avila. She’s 20 and is the first Latina and Nevadan to be elected president of College Democrats of America.
“The more we get younger people to vote, we get younger people in office,” she says. “Which helps because, not only do they understand the issues important to us, but they have a bit of experience with them themselves.”
In 2020, Pew Research reported that Generation Z is the country’s most diverse in terms of race, sexual orientation, and beliefs.
Ellie, who preferred not to share her last name, is a 24-year-old trans woman who was also at the CSN campus encouraging students to register. She feels that generational gap deeply and shared a story about her relationship with her father, who won’t use her name or pronouns.
“I’m kind of forced to be political,” she says. “My identity is political to him.”
She also says that when she looks at who’s running for president, she shares the opinion of many people from older generations: that neither candidate is great.
“Oftentimes, it feels like a lose-lose no matter what you do,” she says.
Aside from voter registration drives, Salvador Avila uses social media as a tool to motivate young voters. She dances on TikTok at political rallies, and posts on Instagram with politicians. Salvador Avila says creating an inviting space on apps that so many young people use is a way to normalize politics for them.
“For a lot of younger people, it’s not at the forefront of their minds all the time,” she says. “I have a lot of friends that don’t really pay attention to what’s going on politically at all. So, to be able to even start that conversation, sometimes a funny TikTok helps, going along with one of the trends that’s popular at this point in time.”
Like many others, she’s also wary of social media as a factual source on issues. She hopes that if someone becomes interested through social media, they’ll go on to learn more about the political process and the positions of various candidates.
“This is so, so important,” Salvador Avila says. “Eventually, the old people in Congress are going to leave. When that time comes, it will be very beneficial for us to know how to go about doing it.”
