At the center of Michigan's strong voter turnout: How college campuses engage students

(Michigan Advance) Lines begin to form before the doors even open. Students drift in from class, work, and daily routines, joining a quiet procession that inches toward a row of single booths. One by one, they slip behind a partition, make a choice, and emerge having participated in one of democracy’s most enduring traditions: voting.

“People in Generation Z and the millennial generation, they want to be engaged. They want to see change in their communities and in their state, and that awareness and the awareness that change can come through the ballot box is something that I sense when I travel through our state and all 83 counties,” Deputy Secretary of State Aghogho Edevbie said. “Young people are engaged, and they want to make a difference.”

Yet nationally, the numbers tell a different story. Despite their political passion, Gen Z’s voter turnout still lags behind older generations. In the 2024 presidential election, only about 20 million of the 150 million ballots cast came from Gen Z, accounting for less than half of all eligible voters ages 18–29.

Michigan youth voters have defied these statistics, visiting the polls in waves and shifting statewide trends. The state is a leader in youth voter turnout, ranking third in the nation with a 58% youth voter turnout rate in a 2024 Tufts University report. .............................(more)

https://michiganadvance.com/2026/06/16/at-the-center-of-michigans-strong-voter-turnout-how-college-campuses-engage-students/