Republicans are trying harder than ever to suppress the youth vote

As recent elections have shown, Republicans are struggling on the national, state and local levels. In 2020, Donald Trump became the first incumbent president who lost re-election since 1992. The “red wave” so many Republicans predicted for the 2022 midterm elections never materialized. This year, including November’s off-year elections, Republicans faced more defeats up and down the ballot — even in states and districts historically thought of as favoring Republicans.

The youth vote continues to play a major role in Democrats’ electoral success. A recent analysis found that Democrats maintain a 21-point advantage over Republicans with young voters. The GOP understands this problem well: As former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker admitted earlier this year on Fox News, “Young people are the problem,” and Republicans must “turn it around if [they] are going to win again.”

But Republicans are not “turning it around.” Despite holding the majority in the House, the GOP isn’t doing anything to address young people’s most specific concerns — whether it’s gun violence, climate change or student loans. Instead, the party — often behind closed doors — is taking a page out of the anti-democracy playbook. That is, Republicans are currently waging a sustained, intense and targeted war to disenfranchise young people in 2024.

Voter suppression is of course a well-trodden strategy for the GOP. The party continues to target racial and ethnic minorities like Black and Hispanic Americans through tactics like gerrymandering, enacting stricter voter ID requirements, and restricting early voting options. So it’s no surprise that as young voters turn out at robust levels, Republicans are doing more than ever to block me and my fellow students from casting our ballots in 2024.

One chilling instance that highlights the depth of the GOP’s commitment came from Cleta Mitchell, a conservative lawyer who helped Donald Trump in his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. At a large Republican donor retreat earlier this year, Mitchell not only decried the ease of voting on college campuses, but detailed an elaborate, 50-page plan to establish “election integrity task forces” across the country to make it harder for young people to vote.

Mitchell’s plans are being reflected in legislation across the country. A study from the Voting Rights Lab reveals that at least 15 states have introduced or enacted legislation that would make it harder — or even illegal — for students to use their college ID to vote in elections. As Republicans know better than anyone else, elections are won on the margin. If they can keep one young voter from voting, they know it can make or break the election. And as Republicans have demonstrated, they will not back down from their sustained attacks on voting rights — whether they’re on Black voters or on young voters — because that is the only way for them to win elections. They will, quite literally, do anything to achieve and maintain power, even if it means undermining the fabric of democracy: the ability to vote.

Against this backdrop, it is critical for voters not to become apathetic or tap out. Instead, organizers, activists and the media must highlight how Republicans are undermining voting rights for racial and ethnic groups and young people. Put simply, 2024 will be a binary choice between a party that believes in democracy and a party that does not believe in democracy — and voters and the media must feel that threat and act with the urgency that this moment demands.

And it’s equally crucial to support efforts to register young people to vote. When those who do not vote are asked why, many young people cite how confusing the political process is. Luckily, every parent and every person who knows a young person in their life can make a difference by helping them register, make time to vote and navigate the complex electoral realities of not just national elections, but state and local elections too. As my government teacher often told me and my peers, young people should embrace the “civics lifestyle” — and that happens by talking to young people and showing them how they too can make a difference.

Republicans know they are losing — which is exactly why they are engaging in a concerted effort to suppress one of the most important voting groups in 2024: young people. But we must not be deterred by their efforts. We must push back, expose their blatantly anti-democratic actions, and start building the democracy we all want to live in. If we don’t, not only will Republicans win — but it may well be the beginning of the end of democracy as we know it.

Victor Shi

Victor Shi is a rising senior at UCLA, co-host of the iGen Politics Podcast and strategy director for Voters of Tomorrow. Previously, Shi was elected as the youngest delegate for Joe Biden and worked on presidential, state and local campaigns. Follow him on Twitter @Victorshi2020.

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