An Influential Generation Gives Absentee Voting a Try

At 21 years old, UW-Milwaukee senior Ciara Kaderly is a first-time voter.

Before the 2020 presidential election, she hadn’t felt very certain about politics, but with the intensity of this election season, Kaderly took time to educate herself.

“I never really had a strong enough opinion or knowledge on politics to know who to vote for or what their policies were,” said Kaderly. “Now, after everything going on, I’ve just become more educated on politics and I would like to vote.”

Part of her voting journey includes simply deciding how to vote: in-person or absentee.

Absentee voting in Wisconsin has seen a substantial rise for this election. Before the pandemic, around 6% of Wisconsin voters voted absentee, according to Meagan Wolfe, Wisconsin’s chief election official. The Wisconsin Election Commission reported nearly 1.4 million absentee ballot requests submitted as of Oct. 16.

But Kaderly doesn’t fall in with the millions. She has made the decision to cast her first-time vote in-person talking to her parents and hearing rumors about potential voting corruption.

Kaderly admits she doesn’t totally believe all the concerns and is focused on guaranteeing her vote is counted.

“It just seems like mail-in voting is just kind of sketchy and I’ve been advised to just go in-person that way for sure my vote is counted,” said Kaderly. “It’s rumored mail-in voting could be corrupt.”

Still, Kaderly is proud of herself for voting this time around and understands the power her generation could have.

“I know there is a lot of people voting for the first time so I think we could really sway it. I think we’re a pretty influential generation,” said Kaderly.

Generation Z (defined as people born after 1996) is expected to comprise about 10% of eligible voters in 2020, according to a study by the Pew Research Center.

Wisconsin is not only a swing state, but it is also projected to be the number one state with high presidential electoral impact by youth voters, according to a study by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning & Engagement (CIRCLE).

Various factors go into this conclusion, said CIRCLE researcher Kristian Lundberg, such as competitiveness of the election, as exemplified in the 2016 election, and voting accessibility.

Wisconsin, the study determined, has easy registration and historically high young voter turnout, aiding in its potential.

However, when it comes to looking at absentee voting and its escalation as a factor, its effect on youth voters tends to be inconclusive, Lundberg said.

A lot of it boils down to voters’ experience and background, according to Lundberg, making the generation a bit divided. With policies and rule constantly changing, much of with Wisconsin has seen lately, there’s a layer of intimidation for voters.

“Having experience with a certain form of voting is really influential. For a lot of young people not having experience with voting can be a pretty big turn off because it can be scary or uncertain,” said Lundberg. “Especially given how policies with mail-in voting seem to be changing all the time.”

The potential is there but safety and accessibility are in question as absentee voting resources can be scarce while COVID-19 cases rising raise in-person voting concerns.

One poll from Global Strategy Group for NextGen America, a group dedicated to encouraging young voter turnout, found that more than half of voters under 35 feel they don’t have the proper knowledge to vote by mail.

Noah Culbreth knows how to vote.

The UW-Milwaukee senior turned 18 just in time to vote in the 2016 general presidential election. At 17, he registered and voted in the primary election.

Despite witnessing what Culbreth describes as possibly “one of the worst election experiences” last spring, he is preparing to submit his ballot this year.

Culbreth is just one of the millions of 2020 voters with absentee ballots, but instead of mailing it back, he intends to return his in-person.

While he cites being a healthy, able-bodied person as his reasoning, Culbreth admits having some reservations with the escalating popularity of mailed ballots.

“Once you raise concerns that an election is illegitimate, you allow that to be a potential outcome,” said Culbreth. “I don’t believe mail-in ballots are fraudulent but, in a year where we’re going to depend on that system more than ever… I’m healthy, I’m able bodied, I’d like to relieve my stress on the system.”

The United States Postal Service (USPS) assures voters it is committed to properly handling any Election Mail, including election ballots, according to a statement from Bob Sheehan, USPS Customer Relations Coordinator for the Lakeland district.

“The Inspection Service has a strong security program and is committed to ensuring the U.S. Mail is a safe and secure method for voters to participate in America’s elections,” said Sheehan. “As we prepare for the 2020 election, we are developing best practices, planning for potential responses, and sharing information with election community stakeholders nationwide.”

Reid Magney of the Wisconsin Election Commission encourages young voters to decide on their voting form and act on it as soon as possible. Magney also stresses to follow all voting directions, as this was a problem he noted in the spring.

“Our best advice is to make a plan to figure out how you’re going to vote,” said Magney. “Make your plan and don’t wait.”

For voting by mail, Claire Woodall-Vogg, executive director of the Milwaukee Election Commission, encourages voters to get their ballots back as soon as possible.

She also recommends using ballot drop-boxes as they are under 24-hour surveillance, have seals to identify any item tampering and go through chain of custody.

“Our drop-boxes are more secure than your average postal service blue mailbox,” said Woodall-Vogg.

Regarding in-person voting, pandemic precautions have been implemented at polling places. All workers and voters must wear masks and Plexiglass has been installed, according to Woodall-Vogg.

Other concerns or questions can be answered at Wisconsin Election Commission’s absentee ballot page which even features video tutorials on voting.

Wisconsin voters can register at their polling place on Nov. 3. The last day to request absentee ballots is Oct. 29.

“We [our generation] are pretty social,” said Kaderly. “We have a lot of resources to educate ourselves on politics and educate others.”

Participating in voting can inspire the change citizens want to see, but barriers present themselves, in the midst of a pandemic or not. The key is to work against them, according to Culbreth, and use your given voice. “The system is designed to keep us out,” said Culbreth. “It’s designed to keep people out. The only way that you can fix that is you have to take it over. You have to inject your values. You gotta vote, you gotta play the game.”