DENVER — Young voters, ages 18 to 34, made up Colorado’s largest voting bloc in the 2020 election. And this time, with more opportunities to vote where they are and encouragement from organizers, it seems likely that youth voter turnout will be high again.

Colorado is adding new voting centers and drop boxes on more college campuses, following state lawmakers’ expansion of the right. Colorado Voting Lawwhich makes small campuses eligible to participate and allows young people to use their student ID cards to vote.

Voter turnout among Colorado youth expected to increase thanks to easier access and increased awareness of issues

“Young people make up one in three voters here in Colorado,” said Nicole Hensel, who runs Colorado new eraa nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that helps build the political power of young people by helping them register, understand issues, and participate in elections.

“In the 2020 election, Colorado youth turned out at 71%. We were in the top five in the country in terms of youth participation,” she said.

But young voters aren’t filling out their ballots purely out of a sense of civic duty, Hensel said.

“A lot of them feel like their future is at stake,” she said. “We want affordable housing. We want the cost of living to go down. We want abortion rights protected in perpetuity and we want to have debt-free universities.

Jacob Curtis, Denver7

While some young voters worry their vote won’t matter as much because Colorado isn’t a battleground state in the presidential race, Hensel said they can make their voices heard at the local level.

“We’re really focused on ballot measures and local races. These are areas where the youth vote can have a direct influence,” she said.

Colorado Constitutional Amendments 79 and J, which would enshrine the rights to abortion and same-sex marriage, respectively, are at the top of the list for many young voters, Hensel said.

“Young people are the most progressive and diverse generation that has ever existed, and so we are essential to any movement for justice,” she said.

Across the country, young Americans strongly support progressive policies and a majority say they “definitely” intend to vote, according to a report. recent survey from 18 to 29 years old by the Harvard Public Opinion Project.

New Era Colorado hopes to make it easier for young voters to engage in politics.

“We were founded in 2006 by a group of CU Boulder students who are now quite influential politicians in Colorado politics,” Hensel said.

The group included current U.S. Congressman Joe Neguse, Colorado Senate President Steve Fenberg, Colorado Rep. Leslie Herod and Lisa Kaufman, who was chief of staff to Colorado Gov. Jared Polis.

“Democracy works best when we are all there, and that means reducing the barriers that prevent young people from accessing our democracy,” Hensel said.

Research shows that people who vote in the first three elections in which they are eligible will likely vote for the rest of their lives.

Jacob Curtis, Denver7

Hannah Schultz, a high school senior who recently turned 18, said she felt empowered to cast her first ballot, which she received and delivered by mail.

“Just filling the bubble was really cool, just being able to know that my voice has a say and I’m making a difference,” she said.

To ensure young people are aware of their voting options, New Era Colorado organizers, like Jorge Hernandez, set up information tables on college campuses.

At Denver’s Auraria campus, Hernandez handed out voter guides and showed students where to find the voting center and drop box located within the main student union.

Hernandez first became involved with New Era Colorado during the 2016 elections when he was a high school student. His parents are immigrants who do not yet have the right to vote.

“I do this work precisely because my parents cannot vote and therefore I am the only one who can do it,” he said. “I owe it to them, and to thousands of people who have the same desire to vote and cannot.”

Jacob Curtis, Denver7

While distributing voting information to young people on the Auraria campus, Hernández spoke with Alex Kimoni, an immigrant student eligible to vote.

Kimoni hopes that the next US president “will make decisions that will not only benefit a privileged few, but will try to cover as many people as possible.”

He prefers to wait until election day, November 5, to vote.

“Since I’m going to be on campus, I’ll probably end up voting here,” Kimoni said. “The more options available, the better for everyone.”