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Amid Iowa’s sweltering August heat wave, volunteers with Johnson County Democrats set up a nonpartisan voter registration tent outside downtown Iowa City’s Yotopia, one of many local efforts to get out the vote ahead of the upcoming presidential election.

Targeting younger voters and students who need to re-register after a change of address, the volunteers guided people through the process to ensure their vote could be cast in the upcoming presidential election.

Talia Lavorato, a freshman at the University of Iowa, registered to vote for the first time in the tent. She said she took the time to register in the oppressive heat because she believes young voices need to be heard.

“People of different backgrounds can vote on the same kind of topics,” she said. “There might be certain topics that aren’t really talked about enough, and so if more people would vote on those topics (they would) be seen more.”

Lavorato was one of hundreds of young people who registered to vote in Johnson County through local get-out-the-vote efforts.

Despite grassroots efforts within the county and around the state, Iowa voter registration remains below the levels seen in the 2022 midterm elections. However, this year’s numbers are currently on the rise.

Local organizations including Johnson County Democrats and Hawk the Vote are driving voter registration for the 2024 presidential election.

After a sweeping state election law moved over half a million voter registrations from active to inactive, the number of voters with active registration status remains below 2022 election levels.

The law requires registered voter status to change from active to inactive after failing to vote in any general election. Under the law, more than a quarter of Iowa’s 2.2 million registered voters were moved to an inactive status.

Before the law, a voter’s registration status did not change unless the voter failed to vote in two consecutive general elections.

After an April 2023 voter roll update, there were 1,328,793 active registered voters in Iowa. Figures released in early August totaled 1,558,076 active registered voters – an increase of 229,283 voters with active registration status.

The number of voters is increasing

The new law kicked more than 30,000 Johnson County voters into inactive status after it took effect. The numbers have bounced back to more than 76,000 active voters in the latest report released in early August, compared to a little more than 68,000 after the law’s passage.

Iowans with an inactive voter status can still vote, as moving a registration status from active to inactive does not affect the ability to vote. However, it moves voter registration closer to being suspended.

Iowa State University political science professor Mack Shelley said excitement and trepidation about the upcoming Nov. 5 election has helped boost voter registration.

Shelley said voter registration typically increases during presidential election years, and historically, younger people are less likely to vote because voting is a regular process.

“There are all these things that are societal pressures, sort of lifetime things. Income considerations and things like that can overwhelm younger people who haven’t gone through the cycle yet,” Shelley says. “Once you’ve gone through the cycle, you get registered, you vote — that’s much easier to like, lather, rinse, repeat and then just keep going through it.”

Shelley described voting as a cyclical process, and once people start voting, they are more likely to continue — just take the step of registering to vote.

“You have to be registered to be able to play the game to actually vote,” Shelley said.

Voter registration numbers can also increase for a combination of factors, including election type, candidates on the ballot, key issues and increases from headlines or events that generate national interest, Johnson County Auditor Erin Shane said in an email to The Daily Iowan.

Registered voters made inactive through the roll maintenance process can return to active status by requesting an absentee ballot, voting in an election, submitting a new registration or updating their voter registration, Shane said.

Local organizations are trying to increase voter registration

Registering to vote is an important part of the voting process, and voting is better for democracy, said Eric Johnson of Iowa City, who is one of dozens of volunteers with Johnson County Democrats holding voter registration on the boardwalk and T. Anne Cleary Walkway in Iowa City.

“I think the more people who have safe access to vote, the better,” Johnson said. “Because it’s people who are in charge of their political destiny, deciding on government outcomes that affect their lives.”

Johnson County Democrats and Hawk the Vote are two of many organizations across Iowa looking to push voter registration to make it easier for Iowans to vote at the polls this November.

Dan Feltes, first vice chairman of the Johnson County Democrats, said the organization has set up these tents in high-traffic areas to help get voters, especially the number of young voters concentrated on the UI campus who may be registering for the first time, to register to make “election day smoother.”

“Everyone has the right to have their voice heard, and voting is the way to do that,” Feltes said. “It’s the way to get your voice heard and encourage anyone who isn’t registered to go ahead and register. Don’t wait to register. Get it done.”

Hawk the Vote combats voter apathy

Hawk the Vote Executive Director Jaden Bartlett said the group has been working with major campus and Greek organizations to drive voter registration at their events this semester.

But Bartlett said overcoming voter apathy has been the group’s biggest hurdle in getting young people to register and, in turn, to the polls.

“It’s really easy to relegate it to just being a presidential thing,” Bartlett said. “Maybe if you don’t see a candidate that represents the values ​​or behaviors or beliefs that you would like to see at the presidential level. That’s fine, but there are all these down-ballot candidates that can actually make almost a more noticeable difference in how things work in your community.”

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Karson Johnson, a freshman at UI, first registered to vote when he turned 18 and recently re-registered after moving to Iowa City. Johnson said young people are being turned away from politics because of the rising age of politicians.

Former President Donald Trump rings in at 78 years old and President Joe Biden is 81 years old. Vice President Kamala Harris is 59 years old, a stark difference she has used as a campaign tactic to target younger voters.

“There are some people out there — which I see the point of — they don’t like to see 70-year-olds in the office. They don’t like to see 70-year-old white guys,” Johnson says. “They don’t like that impression that’s always given from politicians, so that’s why I think sometimes it forces people to stay at home or not get involved.”

Hawk the Vote introduces new course

Hawk the Vote was founded in 2018 by Jocelyn Roof, a UI political science student, to drive civic engagement among the university’s more than 20,000 students. Now, six years later, the group is taking a step into uncharted territory — hosting a one-hour class focused on engaging voters in a new way.

Hawk the Vote’s main goal over the past six years of its existence has focused on grassroots efforts to drive voter registration at UI. A mix of educational events, voter registration campaigns and social media posts looking to drive civic engagement, voter registration has become the group’s mainstay.

But this year’s group wants to take a new approach to educating young voters with a unique course titled “Special Topics in Politics: History and Politics of Voter Registration and Civic Engagement.”

The course will host a range of local government officials, university officials, state legislators and even a congressional candidate to show students how voting plays a role in community engagement, said Noah LeFevre, education coordinator for the group.

The course requires students in the class to be members of Hawk the Vote and participate in several events outside of class to gain credit.

LeFevre said the reason the group decided to offer a course was to build civically engaged leaders.

“But this year we’re looking to not just get people to show up for events and activities and sign people up,” LeFevre said. “We want to create leaders as well as people who are engaged in their local political systems.”

Bartlett said the group decided that this year, being a presidential election year, was the perfect year to start the course — when public attention is already drawn to politics.

“It seemed like a very salient time to implement the idea,” Bartlett said.

Bartlett said the group decided a course would be the best way to further their community involvement goals.

“We really want to emphasize that there’s more to participating in democracy than just voting,” Bartlett said. “It’s certainly a very important part – but there’s a lot more to it than that.”

The course will focus not only on voting but also on interacting with elected officials and engaging in politics beyond going to the polls. This includes talking to local and state officials about issues that directly affect them.

LeFevre said he wants to make sure students are engaged not only in presidential or congressional races, but also local races that can affect daily life.

“I just hope people are more aware of choices,” LeFevre said. “I want people to be out there and be able to understand just the overall American political system but also understand the importance of democracy and voting.”