Michael Brent IV tabling this summer for RISE, an organization engaging young votersPhotograph courtesy of Michael Brent IV Ahead of this year’s presidential election, young voters are gearing up to head to the polls in November. But for Michael Brent IV, civic engagement is a year-round project. Brent, 21, is a senior at Clark Atlanta University, studying political science with a concentration in public policy. He also serves as president of the CAU Democrats—an organization that promotes political awareness and engagement on campus and helps register students to vote. Over the summer, Brent was a field organizer for RISE, a student- and youth-led nonprofit that helps college students build political power. He was able to meet people where they were and try to register them to vote. What he found, however, was that many students “just weren’t excited.” Historically, young-voter turnout in the United States has been low, but numbers in Georgia have increased in recent years. In the 2020 presidential election, a record-breaking 51 percent of registered voters ages 18 to 29 showed up to the polls—a modest figure compared to the overall turnout of 67 percent but still a sharp increase over 2016, when only 37 percent of young voters cast a ballot. This November, everyone is wondering—will they turn out in force again? Though the youth vote was crucial to Joe Biden’s victory in 2020, many Gen Z voters have become increasingly outspoken on the issues they care most about, from the environment and women’s rights to immigration and healthcare. Perhaps no issue has inflamed American youth more than the ongoing Israeli assault in Gaza, which many young voters accuse President Biden of supporting even among mounting Palestinian civilian deaths. In the spring, college students established protest encampments on campuses around the country, leading to hundreds of arrests and a furious debate about free speech in university spaces. Biden’s decision to step down from the 2024 race, and Kamala Harris’s rise to the top of the Democratic ticket, has shifted polling on youth voter enthusiasm, but some young voters say they may choose not to vote at all. When he meets young people who tell him they plan to sit out, Brent urges them to consider what that would mean in the long term. “Don’t just do it based off of how you feel,” he says. “I feel a lot of ways. I don’t feel like getting up. Some days I don’t feel like going out. And there were a lot of days over the summer when I didn’t feel like going to register people to vote because it was hot.” To combat that disinvestment, Brent encourages youth voters to stay civically engaged beyond the presidential election. “You don’t feel like it, but, you know, it’s worthy work,” he says. “It’s good work, and it’s going to lead to something.” This article appears in our November 2024 issue. The post This Clark Atlanta student works to rally Georgia’s youth vote year-round appeared first on Atlanta Magazine.