Miami precincts have lowest voter turnout rates in county
In past elections, the voter turnout for precincts centered on Miami University's campus has been under 20% in some cases. Among the causes, college students who graduate and don't update their voter registration could impact the numbers.
Editor's note: This story was updated on Oct. 29 to clarify which types of identification voters can use to vote in-person in Ohio, as well as the process to vote without a state license.
Both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are targeting Gen Z voters in this year’s election. While local organizations have worked to register Miami University students to vote, though, the precincts on and around campus have significantly lower turnout than the rest of the county.
According to the Butler County Board of Elections website, 73.1% of registered voters voted in the 2020 presidential election. The four precincts in the county with the lowest turnout that year all include parts of Miami’s campus or sections of Oxford with primarily student populations. Two of those precincts saw a turnout of less than 20%.
Several neighboring precincts, meanwhile, had turnouts above 80%. So why is Miami’s voter turnout so much lower?
Kathie Brinkman, co-president of the League of Women Voters of Oxford, said students may have a hard time going to vote this year due to the change in voter identification requirements. As of January 2023, Ohio voters must have a state ID or drivers license, a U.S. passport or a military/veterans ID to vote in person. Only Ohio licenses or IDs can be used to register online.
“It’s challenging for students to vote, because right now there’s the voter ID requirements that have changed,” Brinkman said. “... Students who come to Miami from out of state usually have out of state drivers licenses, and the new voter ID laws will not allow them to register [online].” Without state licenses, students need to use paper registration forms which require the last four digits of their social security numbers and vote by absentee ballot.
Brinkman also said that it can be difficult because while attending Miami University, students live at a variety of different addresses that may have differing polling locations. When a student moves from one residence hall to another for their sophomore year, or eventually off campus as an upperclassman, their address changes.
Regardless of reason, Brinkman said that any time a student doesn’t go to vote, the voting numbers will inevitably decline.
Mollie Duffy, secretary for governmental relations in Miami University’s Associated Student Government, also mentioned the new voter identification laws, saying that it creates another barrier for out of state students. She also said that students don’t seem to care as much when it isn’t a presidential election. Multiple precincts centered on campus posted turnout numbers of less than 5% when Ohio voters passed an amendment to protect abortion access and legalized recreational marijuana.
Another challenge Duffy pointed out is that while students are able to register to vote online, the nearest location for early voting is about 40 minutes from Miami’s campus, making it difficult to access. If a student moves away, Duffy they don’t always update their registration immediately, which could make the turnout numbers look lower than they actually are.
“People only vote typically every four years, that’s a common thing for people to vote during presidential elections,” Duffy said. “Let’s say they’re a senior this year, voting in the presidential election, wanting to vote in Oxford. They may not update their registration again for another four years.”
Nicole Unzicker, director of the Butler County Board of elections, said presidential elections generate the highest turnouts, while local elections have low turnout rates. The Board of Elections tries to make sure everyone has a plan to vote, Unzicker said.
When students move away from Oxford and don’t update their registration, Unzicker said the board has a process to make sure everything is accurate and up to date.
“There is a national change of address process that is according to federal law that they would go through if they have not self-canceled,” Unzicker said. “If they do not update their registration or cancel their registration and do not vote in more than two federal elections, there is a timeline in that process. Their voter registration would be canceled after that timeline has passed.”
If a college student leaves and registers somewhere else in Ohio, Unzicker said there is a duplicate process that cancels the old registration for wherever they re-registered.
“If they re-register within a county in Ohio, we are talking county to county,” Unzicker said. “So if we have a duplicate registration of that person on identifiers such as their driver’s license, social security number, the last four digits of their social security number, first name, last name and date of birth, we are able to recognize that as a duplicate registration between the counties … We will merge their record from Butler County to that new county.”
Early voting is open in Ohio, and Election Day is Nov. 5.
