A Voting Booth Too Far: College Students Voting in Rural America

• In Event: Explaining and Mitigating Voting Behavior Gaps

Abstract

The actual act of voting is complicated by a variety of rules, regulations, and compliance issues. Beyond all of that, there is the actual access to a voting booth. For college students in rural America the actual distance to the voting booth creates unique problems and difficulties. Large campuses generally have sufficient number of registrants to ensure an on-campus voting booth. Yet, for small colleges they often have insufficient on campus registrants to qualify for a voting booth.
Using original survey data of college students in rural upstate New York, my paper explores the perception of travel to the voting booth, how engagement on voting varies by race, ethnicity, and civic engagement in Greek Life, student government, and student clubs. The results of my paper show that Black students who are engaged in student activities vote at higher rates and are willing to travel longer to vote than their white, Latino or Asian counterparts. The results of the paper helps us better understand barriers that we need to overcome to engage students voting at higher rates.

Author

• Peter W. Brusoe, SUNY, Delhi College of Technology