Elected officials engage local HBCU students to address low voter participation
9th September 2024 · 0 Comments
By Leah Clark
Contributing Writer
With less than two months until Election Day, local and nationally-elected officials are hoping to tap into Generation Z to motivate them to get involved in the political process. At the heart of the voter turnout debate, political leaders are seeking to understand why young people do not vote and are reaching out to students at historically Black universities and colleges (HBCUs) seeking answers.
“When you don’t vote, you vote for the worst choice on the ballot. When you stay home, you just voted for the worst person,” said U.S. Rep. Troy Carter (D-La.) at a broadcasted forum on Sept. 6. “If Donald Trump wins, you can believe we’ll be swimming. But we have the antidote to Project 2025: it’s vote in 2024.”
Rep. Carter, who is teaching his first course, titled “Presidency and Congress,” as a visiting professor at Xavier University of Louisiana, joined a panel alongside state Senator Royce Duplessis (District 5), State Rep. Delisha Boyd (District 102), Jefferson Parish Democratic Executive Committee At-large member Dr. Raymond Delaney Jr., Dillard Executive Vice President of Student Success and Operation Dr. Ceeon D. Quiett Smith, the Voters Organized to Educate Regional Political Coordinator Nziki Wiltz and Xavier Pre-Law Society member Cayla Lumar on Sept. 6.
The forum, “Why Don’t Young People Vote,” sought to engage elected officials, academics, community activists and students for a spirited discussion about Gen Z and their participation in elections. Members of the public tuned in to the inter-generational conversation on WBOK 1230 AM.
“This event has been put together because we are reacting to the fact that we just completed an election cycle where we had very low voter turnout,” said Dr. Cassandra Shepard, an assistant professor in Xavier’s African American Diaspora Studies department, who organized the conversation.
Shepard said that her students expressed frustration and discouragement by the voting process and the state of politics in recent times.
“I feel very uneducated on the candidates as far as what’s their plans for the position,” said Xavier freshman Gabrielle Clay, who is a biology major. “It’s also kind of discouraging because I feel like these are the same events that have occurred over and over again as far as with civil rights and trying to get young people to vote.”
Rep. Carter agreed that the voting process can be daunting for young people, but impressed upon them how essential it is to exercise civic engagement during their young lives and not wait until they are older.
“A part of being in college is being organized, so use that frustration of the repetitive action of fighting,” Carter said. “We’re getting somewhere. It may be a slow roll, but the only way we guarantee we don’t get anywhere is to stop.
The forum comes on the heels of a national discussion about the impact of Gen Z voters in the upcoming election. In 2023, Tufts University reported 8.3 million youth will be newly eligible to vote in the 2024 presidential election. Both former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaigns appeal to Gen Z voters has been more noticeable in their last stretch.
In the first installment of the panel, students shared with elected officials and community leaders why they were less likely to participate in elections. A second panel welcomed students and faculty from the other two local historically Black universities – Dillard University and Southern University at New Orleans.
The September forum differed from past election-cycle events with elected officials because it included student leaders at local HBCU campuses in conversation with representatives. Sadé Boyd, Xavier NAACP chapter’s president, said she hopes including more student voices will help them feel that they can be involved in politics while in college.
“It gives us an opportunity to express ourselves in an environment that could help bring about change,” Boyd said. “While we may get discouraged in the political process, this panel helps to restore that hope.”
Long after campaign season ends in November, Shepard said she hopes to build on the “Why Don’t Young People Vote” forum.
“We would like to see something come out of this conversation. Not just talking about it, but being about it – action, organizing and mobilizing,” she said.
This article originally published in the September 9, 2024 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
