Across the nation, students cast their votes, come Election Day. However, at Michigan Technological University (MTU), the voter turnout is only 34.3% compared to the national average of 50.4% as provided in the NSLVE Campus Report done on Michigan Tech. Why might this be?
Michigan Tech is located in the heart of the Keweenaw Peninsula in the Upper Peninsula; it is in a very rural area, far away from other large cities. As a result, the student population that attends Tech is a special breed. Typically our students are nerds that appreciate the secluded nature of MTU or are here because of how amazing of an education they can obtain. Either way, our students live in a little bubble while they attend school.
This location is too rural for candidates to visit regularly and as a school we do not do much to advertise that Election Day is coming, how to register to vote, or even how to obtain an absentee ballot. Perhaps this is for a few reasons. First, we as a society have socialized each other not to discuss politics in any way. It is sort of a taboo topic. As a result, we have shied away from even early reminding each other of our civic duty to vote. By not talking about voting at all we are not promoting participation in the election.
The second reason Tech student participation may be lacking is because of how busy we are. We attend one of the top public universities in the State of Michigan. We attend one of, if not the most expensive University in the State. That stress of academic rigor topped with the pressure financially to succeed here, as quickly as possible can be overwhelming. Most students at MTU are involved in some form of research before they graduate, combined with extracurricular and basic academics we are stretched as students. Finding time between all of these commitments to cast a vote can be challenging.
At MTU 68.6% of our students are studying Engineering and Engineering Technologies. Of the 68.6% of Engineers at Tech, only 27.3% voted in the 2016 Election. With such a huge portion of our student body studying engineering at Tech, and that group having such a low turnout, this group is skewing our data. When we look at other majors, say education they have a 61.1% voter turnout. However, since they only comprise such a small portion of our student body they are not able to impact our data.
We see a similar thing happening over and over because of how primary dominated Tech is by one group of people. For example, we are only 26.9% of women. Our woman at Tech had a higher than Tech average voting turnout. Again, being such a small portion of our student body their percentage is not substantial enough to pull our average up. By 18-21 years old we see a peak in voter turnout, but we see a dip between participation from 22-29 years old. Perhaps this is because they are in a different part of life. They are having children and getting married and in a different mindset.
Overall students at Michigan Tech do not participate in elections nearly as much as students at other universities across the nation. Our culture at Michigan Tech is much stressed and very focused on outdoor programs for stress relief. We have not been socialized to talk about civil duties, especially topics such as politics. We value academics and doing extra things such as voting is not something we take much time to consider.
To increase student participation our Dean of Students could do a far better job informing the student body that election time is coming. Making an effort to not push a certain viewpoint just merely informing us to vote or how to even register. I think informing the students and giving us time to prepare would drastically impact the voter turnout. We typically do not mind doing things, so long as we have enough notice. In the classroom, professors could mention that Election Day is coming or even hand out a flyer written by administration with more information for students. Coming from both the Dean of Students as well as professors I think students would have much more notice and would have a chance to ask questions they may have. Therefore feeling more educated and prepared.
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