DU Works to Get Out the Vote Ahead of 2024 Election

College students—and young people in general—are a group that has historically had a low rate of participation in elections. In 2016, only around 40% of 18- to 24-year-olds voted in the presidential election.

But times are changing, and youth voting rates have increased in every presidential election year since 2016, according to the U.S. Census. The University of Denver, like colleges and universities across the nation, is investing time and money into increasing the civic engagement of its students.

In 2020, 76% of DU students who were eligible to vote did so.

DU Votes, a  collaboration between the Center on American Politics (CAP) and the Center on Community Engagement and Service Learning (CCESL, pronounced SEE-sill) is a new initiative meant to reach and involve even more DU students in the voting process.

“DU Votes was created to help support these impressive [voting] numbers but also to increase participation in student populations that tend to be harder to reach,” says Megan Grogan, program assistant with CAP.

DU Votes is supported in part by the national organization All In Campus Democracy Challenge, which offers resources and get-out-the-vote guidance to participating universities.

In 2020, DU’s 76% voting rate earned the University a “gold campus” designation from All In. And in the 2022 midterm elections, DU’s voting rate was between 40 and 49%, earning it another gold designation. 

Grogan says a key part of DU Votes’ mission to get students involved is by recruiting student interns to help get out the vote.

“We have three student interns through CAP this fall, and to date, they've already spent over 20 hours tabling and helping folks, answering their voter registration questions, and we're super excited about it,” she says.

The DU Votes interns are equipped to answer questions about how to register to vote, updating voter registration addresses, requesting and turning in absentee ballots, and more.

“There are a lot of little, nitty-gritty questions that we really work hard to answer, and we're thrilled to be a resource on campus,” Grogan says.

Alongside answering questions at tables in various locations across campus, DU Votes interns also attend events.

“There are a couple of professors who have reached out and would like for DU Votes to just come to their classroom to do a five-minute spiel with students,” Grogan says. “We’re more than happy to do that, hand out stickers and candy and answer questions.”

Caleb Smith, a third-year student studying political science and public policy through the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences and the Korbel School of International Studies, is a DU Votes intern. He staffs a DU Votes table weekly at the Community Commons building on campus.

“I'm just sitting there at a table, ready for people to come ask questions or just kind of send them in the right direction or, of course, help them register to vote,” Smith says. “And people are coming from everywhere, so if they want to vote back in their home state or hometown, I think it is important to still offer them that opportunity.”

Smith, who has worked on local and national campaigns as a canvasser, says students are generally quite interested in registering to vote and learning about the voting process.

“Lately, what I’ve been getting a lot is people coming up saying, ‘Hey, love what you do,’ or ‘Hey, how can I get involved as well?’—just things of that nature, which is always good to see, especially amongst college students,” he says.

When it comes to the increased voting numbers among young people, Smith says it’s uplifting to see college students getting educated and involved.

“It’s important to listen to them, because their problems are arguably the problems of the future,” he says. 

The DU Votes website provides answers to common voting questions and features a map of ballot drop box locations around Denver—including the drop box right on campus at the Ritchie Center roundabout on Buchtel Boulevard. 

Election Day this year is Nov. 5.