Young Latino Vote May be Tied to College Enrollment

By Hope Gillette, Voxxi

Young Latino vote in Florida is increasing, says a report from Abby Kiesa, youth coordinator and researcher with Tuft University’s Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE). While that may not be surprising given the growing number of Latinos living in Florida (about 4 million currently), researchers say the Latino vote seems to be directly related to the number of Latino college enrollees. Is this an indication of a national trend?

“There’s a pattern of increased youth voting,” Kiesa told policymic. “But having more youth in a higher education environment is definitely a factor. There are a lot of efforts to help [higher education] institutions think about supporting civic involvement.”

Young latino vote and college enrollment

The more Latinos enrolled in college institutions, the more young Latino voters, seems to be the obvious correlation .

According to a report released by the Pew Research Center, Hispanics are not only growing as a population, but are also making great leaps in the area of college enrollment.

The report, compiled by Richard Fry and Mark Hugo Lopez, reveals that, in 2011 Hispanic students between the ages of 18-24 enrolled in a college program increased by 16.5 percent, with more than two million Hispanic students enrolled in America’s colleges and universities.

On the other hand, CIRCLE found Latino voters between the ages of 18 and 29 increased between 2004 and 2008 elections from 35 percent to 41 percent, and while CIRCLE researcher believe this is attributed to many factors, higher college enrollment has a direct impact on the voting numbers.

College enrollment might be a factor because, among other reasons, there are more college initiatives promoting voting and civic action.

Among college initiatives promoting student voting is the University of Miami’s Get Out The Vote campaign. The University of Miami has a high number of Latino student enrollment.

The Get Out The Vote program is specifically designed to encourage students to get out and vote regardless of which political party they are in favor of. The initiative keeps track of student registrations, hosts ballot information sessions, and sets up shuttles to take students to voting sites. The University has also partnered with TurboVote, non-partisan non-profit voting assistance organization.

“Our goal is to make the voting process accessible to all Americans,” Sam Novey, TurboVote’s director of partnerships told policymic.

“One strategy for reaching as many people as possible is to work with colleges. Young people are more mobile and could use help with things like registering and re-registering.”

While Florida has shown an increase in college enrollees and student voters, other states are also focusing on getting young people to vote. California recently implemented an online voter registration system which the state hopes will encourage students to get to the polls.

“Anytime voter registration is made easier, it has the potential to increase turnout,” Laura Stoker, an associate professor in the UC Berkeley political science department, told The Daily Californian. “Young people, who are of course very computer literate, are more likely to use the system.”

The youth voting initiatives might prove effective and important, especially since a Gallup poll earlier in the year indicated only 58 percent of registered voters between the ages of 18 and 29 claimed they were going to get out and vote in the upcoming November election. Fifty-eight percent is significantly lower than previous voting intentions in 2004 and 2008.

Cammy Harbison contributed to this report.

This article was first published in Voxxi.

Hope Gillette is an award winning author and novelist. She has been active in the veterinary industry for over 10 years, and her experience extends from exotic animal care to equine sports massage. She shares her home with four cats, a dog, a horse, and her tolerant husband.