University of Minnesota hosts temporary, "pop-up" early voting site with two weeks left until Election Day
MINNEAPOLIS — As students walked to and from class at the University of Minnesota on Tuesday, they could make a pit stop at the polls as the Weisman Art Center transformed into an early voting site serving hundreds of college voters and other Minneapolis residents, too.
A recent law change by the state legislature made the one-day early voting location possible. It allows cities and counties to authorize temporary polling places at colleges and universities upon request.
Organizers with the "Row the Vote" voter outreach campaign said they visited several classes in the weeks leading up to Tuesday, educating their peers about how to register to vote and the process. Riley Hetland, director of civic engagement for undergraduate student government, said 12,000 students made a pledge to vote and 2,000 registered during those engagements.
She said she was pleased by the turnout.
"Our student body is inherently lazy. That's just true about all students. We have a lot going. We're really busy and sometimes voting goes over our heads, but by bringing the polls to the students, it is really, really awesome to see how many people utilize that resource we brought to them," Hetland said.
Young voters historically do not vote at the same rate as older Americans, but turnout has been notably high in recent years, according to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University. Minnesota was first in the nation for overall voter turnout in 2020 and second in the nation for turnout in voters aged 18-29.
"It's really disheartening to know that our voter turnout as young people is the lowest in the country [overall], so as a result a lot of policies aren't geared towards young people. So us at Row the Vote are trying to change that narrative," she said.
WCCO spoke to voters Tuesday who said the economy, protecting democracy and preserving abortion rights shape their decisions about their vote. Elections officials for the city of Minneapolis staffed the "pop-up" polling place at Weisman and any Minneapolis resident could choose to vote there that day, not just students.
"Whatever we can do to make sure this is not an obstacle course, it's something that's straightforward is good, because one of the things we know is that when you can get a young person voting that first time they're eligible at 18,19, 20, whatever, they are far more likely then to make it a lifelong habit," said Steve Simon, Minnesota's secretary of state.
State lawmakers in the last two years also approved automatic voter registration and allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to pre-register. They also created a permanent absentee voter list that automatically sends people who sign up a ballot each election, instead of requiring an application.
More than 330,000 Minnesotans have had their absentee ballots accepted by local election offices for this election, according to the secretary of state's office.
