early voting, I will be at their door knocking on November 5th.
>> Reporting from Madison. I'm Zach Schultz for here. And now.
>> In a tight election, every group of voters can make the
difference. And student voters are no different. But college
students, especially those from out of state, face a few more
obstacles to voting "Here& Now". Student journalist Jane McCauley
reports. >> California does not need your
vote. New York does not need your vote. Illinois does not
need your vote. Wisconsin needs your vote.
>> Emily Teffert is a junior at UW-Madison and part of the Wisco
project, a liberal group engaging students to vote. 2024
is her first time voting in a presidential election, and she's
urging out-of-state students to put their vote where it matters.
>> This time, it's much more. Instead of telling them that
they can vote, it's telling them that they should vote.
>> Students can vote where they attend college or at their
permanent address. But what is needed to vote in Wisconsin?
In-state students need to register and have a valid ID for
out of state students. >> It's the same registration
form, but instead of doing your driver's license number, you do
the last four digits of your Social Security number, as well
as a proof of residence. >> But there's one more piece
students who are not from issued voter ID at nearly all
two and four year campuses. Wisconsin campuses like
could flip razor thin margins. In 2020, UW Madison's turnout
rate was over 70%, or nearly 25,000 students. Donald Trump
and Joe Biden won Wisconsin in 2016, and 2020, respectively,
with just over 20,000 votes. Each time we have over 40,000
undergraduate students. >> So if you think that if every
single student were to go out and vote, the insane impact that
could have every vote really, really does matter and J.
>> Heck, the executive director of Common Cause Wisconsin, sees
a generation that's already voting at higher rates than
previous ones, creating voting habits. Now that will carry on
past this election season. >> You know, young students,
whether they're conservative or progressive, tend to be very
highly motivated. And that's important because you generally
establish your lifetime voting tendencies when you're in
school. could prevent students from even
getting to the polls as early voting is underway. Reports of
intimidating texts are addressing students saying if
they vote where they are not eligible, it could result in
fines or jail. >> Every general election we see
mailings. We see text messages from third party groups that
just don't get it right. It's just about pointing people to
the official source of information, and that official
source of information would come from going to the Wisconsin
Elections Commission website. >> According to its
administrator, Meagan Wolfe. at polling locations should not
scare students away. >> We worry about whether there
will be people that will be standing trying to tell people
that they can't vote. You have every right to vote.
>> But it's not just Madison. The national spotlight is on
Wisconsin and all its youth. >> Yes, UW-Madison is the
largest university and obviously is impactful. But I think we
also need to focus on the UW schools, private schools, tech
schools across the state, especially as presidential
campaign stops have been more frequent in smaller cities.
>> I think that is just a really strong signal that those
campaigns know that Wisconsin matters and that, you know, it's
not just Madison, it's Milwaukee, it's green Bay.
>> John Zumbrunnen is the vice provost of academic affairs at
UW-Madison and faculty co-chair of BadgersVote. He says up until
November 5th, candidates will continue their Wisconsin
campaign stops, bringing energy and attention.
>> And those campaigns know that they need to connect with
Wisconsin and encourage people to get out your own voice and
your own ability to be able to vote, particularly in Wisconsin.
>> And I can't say this enough is probably louder here than in
almost any other state in the country.
October 22nd, the first day of early voting in Wisconsin. She
will continue to canvass until November 5th.
>> That's why when people are like, oh, well, politics doesn't
really impact me. It doesn't impact you. You mean the future
of the world like the future of our Earth, like the planet we