College students with ideas on how to increase voter participation among young voters are being asked to serve on a new task force created by Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson.
Benson announced this week that the department is forming a nonpartisan Collegiate Student Advisory Task Force that will look into the challenges young voters encounter, and ultimately recommend possible changes that could address those issues.
“Young people are the future of our democracy, and this task force is an important step toward ensuring their voices are heard on Election Day and beyond,” Benson said in a statement. “I look forward to working with students, faculty and administrators in the months ahead to empower the next generation of voters.”
The Department of State’s Election Modernization Advisory Committee and Secretary of State staff leadership will choose between 20 and 25 students from colleges and universities around the state.
Prospective applicants can apply on the Secretary of State’s website before 3 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 3. Any Michigan student attending a two- or four-year higher education institution can apply.
The task force is set to meet three times this fall and would submit final recommendations to Benson in November 2019, according to a release from the Secretary of State’s office. Students selected would continue to coordinate with the Secretary of State in 2020 as “civic engagement liaisons" on campus.
Voter turnout among young voters in Michigan has been increasing - in 2018, turnout in college towns like East Lansing exceeded previous midterm election totals and were closer to presidential election year numbers.
But some argue voting remains confusing and difficult for many young voters. Earlier this year, the state resolved a federal lawsuit brought against former Secretary of State Ruth Johnson in 2018 by College Democrats at Michigan State University and the University of Michigan that challenged requirements for first-time voters to vote in person, among other voting laws.
Michigan voters adopted Proposal 3 after the lawsuit was filed, which added several voting policies to the state Constitution and guaranteed all registered voters the right to vote absentee without giving a reason.
As part of the lawsuit’s resolution, the state pledged to update department manuals and training materials to better incorporate the needs of young voters and announced plans to bring Secretary of State mobile branch offices to college campuses more often.
The mobile branch offices were also used under Johnson’s tenure on college campuses to ease access for students seeking Secretary of State services.
