Elevating Young Voices to help Let NY Vote!
Youth
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Working Group
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Youth 〰️ Working Group 〰️
The Let NY Vote Youth Working Group empowers young people and students to lead the charge for equitable access to democracy.
As part of the LNYV Coalition, the Youth Working Group amplifies youth-led civic engagement initiatives, advocates for critical youth voting reforms, and creates opportunities to engage young people across New York State in shaping the future of democracy.
The current focus for the LNYV Coalition Youth Working Group is the
Student Voter Empowerment Act
(Senate Bill S2056 / Assembly Bill A3954 - 2025),
which will level-set and expand civic engagement practices
in New York’s colleges and universities.
THE PROBLEM
According to the National Study for Learning, Voting and Engagement (NSLVE), there was a notable gap in the turnout rate of student voters and the rate of eligible student voters who registered to vote in the 2020 presidential election. Even if a young person is registered to vote, one of the most common reasons young people cite for not voting in an election is the lack of information about election processes and who is running for office.
In the 2024 election, student voters in critical districts across Upstate New York—particularly in college towns like Ithaca, Albany, Binghamton, and Poughkeepsie—played a pivotal role in shaping the outcome of close races. Their engagement proved that young people hold real political power, often deciding margins of error in key elections, and that there is an urgent need to provide students with the election-related information they require to not only register but turn out to vote and make informed decisions.
The Student Voter Empowerment Act would:
Require Student Voting Coordinators at all institutions of higher education to develop and implement robust two-year student voter action plans with at least three civic events a year
Provide students with regular nonpartisan election-related information via different mediums (in-person high traffic areas, email, text, social media, website)
Work with local boards of elections to standardize student voter registration such as the provision of pre-filled voter registration, the process to search for a voter’s registration status, and the provision of information pertaining to the deadline to register to vote
Create university voter committees with students and support student groups doing voter engagement
Outline required election-related information to be sent to students such as, the process to search for a voter’s early voting and election day assigned poll sites and the process and deadlines for applying for and returning absentee ballots, early mail ballot, and for curing defects in absentee ballots
Allow excusal policies for students to vote
Enroll all applicable schools in Tuft’s National Study for Learning, Voting and Engagement
The Solution
Why It Matters
The Student Voter Empowerment Act will be instrumental in ensuring that our colleges and universities become trusted messengers of accurate and nonpartisan election information. This legislation is essential for building an informed and engaged generation of young voters.
Get involveD
Join the Let NY Vote Youth Working Group to help pass the Student Voter Empowerment Act and advocate for more youth civic engagement:
