“Are you registered?” was the repeated question from volunteers with the nonpartisan League of Women Voters of the Pikes Peak Region at their get-out-the-vote booth inside the University of Colorado Colorado Springs student center. 

The responses varied from “Already mailed in my ballot” to “How do I start?” as students filtered through on their way to or from classes this week. The young potential and registered voters displayed a range of interest in the looming election as they looked over the sample ballot or picked up colorful pins and stickers.

Going by votes alone, the youth demographic may seem less likely to make a difference this November. People born after 2000 make up about 12% of all registered voters in the county, and turnout numbers are historically lackluster compared to older generations. 

However, young voters are important drivers in political activism and campaigning, from high-profile campus protests of the war in Gaza this spring to weekend door knocking for local candidates. As UCCS assistant political science professor Sara Hagedorn points out, young people have the energy and stamina to be visible, on the ground forces. 

“They’re the only ones who can walk all day,” she said. 

Here’s what a few young voters — and those hoping to court them — are saying and doing in El Paso County just a week out from the election. 

Big issues, quiet voices

Misk Aboughali received her U.S. citizenship last year as an immigrant from Egypt. The sophomore at the UCCS has not yet made up her mind for how she will vote the top of the ticket in her first presidential election. 

“I think that it’s kind of split for me because the person I’m kind of leaning towards is Trump, but he definitely has very questionable views on certain things,” she said. “But in terms of helping the economy, he seems like a better fit.” 

Aboughali said she was especially concerned about the affordability of homeownership after college, a move she considered to be a sign of adult success. 

Summer, a UCCS master’s student who declined to give her last name, said that uncertainty introduced by the overturning of Roe v. Wade was drawing her to the polls this year to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris. 

“You hear some whisperings about losing some more rights like marriage equality, things of that nature,” she said. 

Both students are experiencing a reluctance to speak about their preferences on campus, something they say is the status quo this year. 

“People will likely allude to the election but not actually say anything concrete about it because you don’t want to find out, like, you thought your friend held all the same beliefs, but they actually want the other candidate,” said Summer. 

“It can feel uncomfortable, and I don’t think that’s something that we’re ready to talk about,” said Aboughali. 

Hagedorn said a campus-wide reluctance to talk about the election has affected the classes she teaches, which include intro to American government, political inquiry and a seminar on congressional processes.

While her students pay careful attention to politics and world events, Hagedorn said they do not engage each other’s opinions publicly, a development she called “incredibly concerning.” 

“That’s the whole point of a university experience,” she said. 

As for how the presidential election will turn out on campus, Hagedorn said her students were keeping their cards too close to the chest to get a sense. 

Navigating content 

Students also expressed a reluctance to trust traditional media sources for politics at the same time they are pulling away from social media saturated with election content. 

Summer, who said she would be voting with help from the Colorado Blue Book, said she was feeling election fatigue online. 

“I probably do avoid social media more for this election after the 2016 and the 2020 elections,” she said. “It felt like too much. It just felt like all memes and not discussion of policy.” 

Tristan Ritchie, a sophomore, said he engages with election news through X. He said he and his parents are generationally divided in how they consume news, calling Facebook an “old person source.”

“They stick to the mainstream media sources, versus I think Gen Z gets some info from Twitter and TikTok,” he said. 

Aboughali, Ritchie and Summer all said they have become highly skeptical of information shared on social media about the election. 

“Knowing who I’m voting for, I want to go in and read their policies and what they actually want to do instead of listening from people or something just twisting words and saying things that aren’t necessarily true,” said Aboughali. 

She said she felt that the Harris campaign was making more effort to engage with young voters, especially though her active TikTok account, posting negative content about former president Trump. 

Still, Aboughali said she was not overly impressed with either candidate’s outreach. 

“I think they’re both out of touch in their separate ways,” she said. 

Get out the vote 

Luis Ybarra Jr., a 23-year-old former competitive boxer, is the youngest person by far running the open races this year for El Paso County commissioner. He says that is a strength. 

“I think we’re carrying a lot of momentum into the election,” he said of his campaign for the El Paso County 4th District, encompassing parts of southeast El Paso County including Fountain and Security-Widefield. 

To Ybarra, courting younger voters has been an essential part of his campaign. He said voters in his district are feeling disenfranchised with fewer job opportunities and an unattainable housing market. 

“It’s kind of really limited in this area,” he said. 

Ybarra is running as an unaffiliated candidate, matching the profile of the majority of voters in the county under age 24. According to El Paso County Clerk and Recorder statistics, about 40,000 of the 57,000 registered voters born after 2000 are unaffiliated.

That number may be partly a reflection of those who were automatically registered when they applied for a Colorado driver’s license, which does not mark a party affiliation by default. Automatic voter registration at the Division of Motor Vehicles has been swelling the numbers of unaffiliated voters since its inception in 2019, about when many current college students became eligible to vote. 

Number of unaffiliated voters in Colorado has hit a record high— here’s one key reason why

Ybarra said he believes young voters are more likely to resonate with his campaign due to frustration with the options presented by the traditional parties. 

“We’re tired of going one way, and we’re going to try another,” he said. 

Despite the lack of young Democrats and Republicans in the county by registration, parties and their candidates are in some ways relying on the the interest of young people to run effective campaigns. Hagedorn said campaigns for 5th Congressional District candidates River Gassen and Jeff Crank have reached out to request door-knocking volunteers from among her political science students. 

Students of hers are volunteering for other local elections, including commissioner races. 

Kolby Zipperer, chair of the fledging El Paso County Young Republicans, said Republicans under 40 in the organization are taking up a perceived slack in campaigning efforts from the state party. 

Calling the party in recent years “not very inviting, and not very effective,” the insurance agent in his 30s said he brought the Young Republicans together at the beginning of the year to foster like-minded partisan values.

The organization is funding ads and providing volunteers for two campaigns: Rebecca Keltie for state House District 16 against incumbent Democrat Stephanie Vigil and Stan VanderWerf for state Senate District 12 against Democrat Marc Snyder. 

While the Young Republicans, with up to 175 members, has partnered with Republican offshoot campaigners Peak Republicans, Zipperer said it has been radio silence this year from the state and county party. 

“I don’t know what my GOP is doing,” he said. 

Zipperer said members are coming in through social media and in-person recruiting. The economy and border security are major issues driving participation. 

“We are seeing a lot of energy specifically among young people,” he said. 

Colorado Democratic Party chair Shad Murib said his party this year was focusing on reaching college students around the state through the issue of climate change. The party has invested in the “Colorado Green Wave,” a series of climate-related tablings and canvass events. 

“Young people just want to be listened to, and they want to be heard,” he said. 

He said that young voters are a demographic, along with rural voters and those in traditionally red areas, the Democrats are paying more attention to this year. 

“Our goal right now is to get out the vote and make sure that we are helping anyone who is making their final decision choose our candidates,” he said.