University of Chicago event focuses on turning out youth vote at DNC
CHICAGO (CBS) – The University of Chicago's Institute of Politics brought hundreds of Gen Z students to its Youth Vote Fest on the city's Near West Side, just blocks away from the Democratic National Convention at the United Center.
As hundreds of college voters filled the Epiphany Center for the Arts. Organizers pulled a song from Charlie XCX's blockbuster "Brat" album, playing to their young audience. One of the attendees wore a "Demo(b)rat" hat to the event.
Turnout at Youth Vote Fest, hosted by the nonpartisan Institute of Politics, included students from 180 colleges and universities.
"I'm just excited to see the first Black woman president," said Nia Belssing Armstrong, a student at the University of Illinois Chicago.
While most of the attendees were pledged to Kamala Harris, it was the IOP's second Vote Fest after another in Milwaukee for the RNC. The event puts students through voter education and get-out-the-vote training with the goal of increasing turnout this November and beyond.
"I think that the youth vote is the sleeping giant in the United States political arena and if we want to be taken seriously as a voting block, then we have an obligation to start showing up to the polls," said Emily Morgan, a graduate student. "And what that means is it can't just be me and my friends. It has to be everybody and everybody's friends."
The idea is that the students will use the lessons they learned at the Youth Vote Fest to take them back to their hometowns or to college campuses and increase voter turnout there.
"We have one of the lowest voter turnout rates in the entire country and we have a really high rate of young people in California, and we're predominately Hispanic, so we're trying to get the vote rate really up," said Anna Cecilia Fierro.
Fierro, of Cornell University, was at the Vote Fest after securing a $20,000 grant to increase voter turnout in her hometown, Santa Ana, California.
Democrat, Republican or independent, organizers hope the students will become "evangelists" for the youth vote.