Across towns and cities in the state of Louisiana, billboards, yard signs and posters plead to those who glance their way to vote for their endorsed candidates. Outside of courthouses dedicated campaign teams stand on the street waving posters with new parish presidents, district representatives and the star of this election season, gubernatorial candidates.
As the long-awaited primary election approaches, taking place on Oct. 14, 2023, candidates gather their last efforts to gain votes. Many gubernatorial candidates travel to universities, attend gubernatorial debates or keep promoting their reasons to be the next governor on their social media accounts.
Yet, their efforts to gain civic engagement from first time voters projects to fall flat like previous elections.
According to a State-by-State Youth Voter Turnout Data from the 2022 midterm elections by Tufts University, the state of Louisiana had a 16.3 % youth turnout from the ages 18 to 29. Resulting in a 5.7 % decrease since the 2018 election.
This trend is one that is in the minds of the secretary of state’s team. The secretary of state oversees the management of registrar of voters and voting sites around the state.
“Our office believes that it’s important for all to participate, because it is easy to feel as if you aren’t a part of something as a young person,” John Tobler, deputy secretary of state, said. “By voting, government is coming from you, rather than at you, but admittedly, it is difficult to single out young voters.”
While the secretary of state team focuses on targeting young voters by administering events like National Voter Registration Day at high schools and other events meant to showcase the importance of government to the youth vote, actually getting young people to show up at polling sites is where the numbers fall.
“We use a variety of methods to remind people about elections including social media, web ads and radio,” Tobler said. He continues by adding that the office tries to create content appealing to young voters without being solicitous.
Despite these efforts, many students at Northwestern State University of Louisiana had no idea that a new governor would be taking over after this election cycle.
For 20-year-old Haley Wiggins, the only time she would go to the polls is for a bigger election.
“If I were to go vote,” the junior communication major said, “I would only do it for something I feel strongly about, and I feel like that’s more at the federal level than state.”
Other students acknowledged the civic act of voting, but still had no idea of the local elections happening this season. Rebecca Smith, an 18-year-old freshman communication and business double major, echoes Wiggins’ sentiment about presidential elections being a bigger motivation to vote.
“I feel like I am not well educated when it comes to smaller elections, and only think of voting on the highest scale,” Smith said.
Even students who have voted before or want to be involved citizens expressed that this election did not reach them. Jeremy Wade, a 19-year-old veterinary tech sophomore, said that candidates and campaigns aren’t doing enough to market young voters.
“I feel like I only hear political ads when I’m watching YouTube or when I listen to the radio,” Wade said.
Louisiana’s ballot currently has 15 candidates listed. From those 15 the top four candidates with the highest campaign contributions and media attention are Jeff Landry, Hunter Lundy, John Schroder and Shawn Wilson, according to Ballotpedia.org.
Jeff Landry’s Instagram account has 3,813 followers. With his first post dating to Dec. 6, 2013. The Instagram account of Jeff Landry for Louisiana has been his campaign account since he began his campaign for attorney general.
Hunter Lundy’s Instagram account (Hunter Lundy Governor) has 572 followers with the first post dating back to Feb. 18, 2022.
John Schroder has served as the Treasurer of Louisiana since 2017. His Instagram John Schroder La dates back to Oct. 31, 2020. He has 725 followers.
Shawn Wilson previously served as the secretary of the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development. His Instagram account Wilson for la has 3,242 followers.
Despite each candidate’s regularly posting various types of contents, their following number in these accounts is small compared to the 2,970,167 registered voters in Louisiana, according to the statewide registration statistics from sos.la.gov posted on Oct. 1, 2023.
While campaigning doesn’t end in social media and many have visited universities like Louisiana Tech University, Louisiana State University, Nicholls State University and University of Louisiana at Lafayette, candidates often don’t target their policies to the youth vote as NSU professor Greg Granger explained.
“I have not seen candidates tailor their campaigns toward the youth vote in the current cycle,” Granger, professor of history and political science, said. He adds that first time voters may feel overwhelmed about the number of positions and constitutional amendments listed in the ballot, and unless these candidates target issues involving higher education, the youth voter turnout will remain low.
“Candidates discuss policies to establish expectations for what they will do in office and/or to distinguish themselves from other candidates,” Granger said. “There has been discussion of post-secondary education which should get the attention of university, community college and vocational-technical school students.”
The reality for many students at NSU is that during this election season they will not find themselves at their designated polling sites.
Fallon Lincoln, a junior secondary education major, has yet to vote in an election and can’t vote this election season as her hometown of Lake Charles is four hours away from Natchitoches.
“I would vote, but it’s harder to vote where I don’t live where I registered,” she said. “Local elections are very important, but it’s hard to partake in them when you don’t actually live here.”
On Oct. 14, citizens in their mid-30s and up will go to the polls and view the long ballot as they decide Louisiana’s future with millions of checkmarks. Though the secretary of state would like first time voters to exercise their voting right, the 16.3 % turnout will stay the same as NSU students try to rejuvenate from midterms.