The Daily Show: Ears Edition - How the Youth Vote Is Being Suppressed - Long Story Short

Episode Date: March 18, 2023

To many, low youth turnout is not a problem, it's the goal. From moving voting booths to splitting congressional districts, politicians are doing all they can to lower voting numbers in young people. Kal Penn discusses why that is and what tactics politicians are taking in this edition of Long Story Short.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to Comedy Central. There's a lot that we don't know about the 2024 election, like who the candidates will be or which campaign Vado or Rourke is going to lose. But as someone who headed up youth issues at the White House, I can tell you that if history's any indicator, we already know what one of the big talking points is going to be. Every election, it's like, oh of the big talking points is going to be. Every election it's like, oh the young people are coming, young people are coming and usually they don't come. They just don't show up. Are you hearing me, nieces? I was having this conversation tonight. Someone said, this this convention was not

there in their 20s. It was not made for us. I said you guys don't vote. Because you don't vote. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. they don't vote. they don't vote. they don't vote. they never vote. they never vote. they never vote. they never vote. they never vote. they never vote. they never vote. they never vote. they never vote. they. they. they. they they don't vote. they don't vote. they don't vote. they're never vote. they're never vote. they're they're they're they're they're they're they. Are. Are. Are. Are. they. they. they. they. they. they. they. they. they. they. they. They. They. They. They. They. They. They. They. They. They. They. They. They don't vote. They. They don't vote. They don't vote. They don't vote. They don't vote. they. they. they. they. they'll never. they'll never. they're never they're never th. they're th. they're they're th. they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're if you never come out? Sorry, not to be annoying, but we're with NBC News, and I'm just trying to figure out, anybody here going to vote in the election on November 6th? Anybody? Anybody? Nobody's gonna vote? What can get younger voters to actually turn out to vote? You know, turn out for what? You got your theme song, Maddie?

Yeah. Well, young people aren't going to be voting now. The point is, the media loves to whine about young people not voting. But what gets much less attention is that the establishment feels so threatened by the power of young voters that they actually try to get them to not vote. To many in the establishment, low youth turnout is not a problem, it's a goal. And that's what I want to talk about in the latest installment of Long Story Short. Let's say that a political party wants to suppress the youth vote. What are some things they might try to do?

Their best bet is to put restrictions on college students, because for the most part, they're all young, except for that one guy who used to sit in the back of your sociology lector. What was his deal? Was that like an inspiring thing or like a 21 Jump Street situation? Anyway, one thing that they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they th th th that that th th th th thi thi thi that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that that that that that that that that that that that that that that is that that that that that that that that that that the thate thate the that the that that that thate that thate that that that that thate that th inspiring thing or like a 21 Jump Street situation? Anyway, one thing that they try to do is to target student IDs. In some states, you can't use a school ID to vote, even though for a lot of students, it's the only thing showing that they live in the state. And don't tell me that they aren't legitimate residents. Okay, college students pay local taxes.

And the the the the the their their their their their their their their their their their their thoes thoes th dumb ones up to six. One of those states is Texas, where you can't use your student ID to vote, but you can use your gun permit, which sure feels like a law made by Republicans to vote. It's basically like a liberal state letting you vote if you still wear your COVID mask. Another thing they try to do is move voting booths off campuses. Now this is a big deal for college students since they're less likely to have a car. If they do know someone with a car, it's usually that like kind of hot but sort of sketch dude with a 2007 Subaru that like reeks of weed and all the seat belts are missing, and it's just like, is voting for state assembly really worth getting car herpes? When it comes to trying to make polling places inaccessible,

the state of Texas is also at the forefront. Texas Republicans are pushing a bill that would ban voting booths from every campus across the state. Voting Rights Advocates are slamming a Texas lawmakers plan to remove polling places from college campuses. A young voter has favored Democrats by nearly a 30-point margin in the midterms, but the Republican who's behind this proposal

tells ABC 13 to Brianna Connor, it is not about that. Republican State Representative Kerry Isaac says it's a matter of school safety. I don't believe it's wise that we invite people onto our campuses that would not otherwise be there. Texas Southern University freshman Jordan Jones points out that public universities like TSU already have open campuses. Our library that's literally right there is also public. Anybody can go in there and use it, so I feel like there shouldn't be

much of a difference whenever it comes to voting. She has a good point. The library's already open to the public. Although knowing Texas Republicans, that other lady's just going to be like, this student is right. We should also ban libraries. I realize that so far I've given you Republican examples, but to be fair, that doesn't mean all voter suppression is committed by Republicans, just like 98 percent of it. But there are Democrats who do engage in voter suppression, and I know this from personal experience. During the Democratic primary in 2007, I lobbied a local election board in North Carolina that wanted to remove voting machines from a campus where there were a lot of Obama Democrats and send those machines to a wealthy suburb where there were a lot of non-Obama Democrats. Although that's obviously not how they put it. They were just like, okay, we're doing this because college students are just less likely to vote than people in the suburbs. And then I was like, oh, well, maybe, the college students. th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the, the, the, the, the, the, the the the, the the the the the the the the the the the tho, tho, tho, tho, thro, thro. tho. thean, thoan, thoan, thoan, thoan, thoan, thoan, thean, thoan, thoan, their less likely to vote than people in the suburbs.

And then I was like, oh, well maybe college students don't vote because you keep taking their voting machines away. And then I lost. And then I lost. Sorry. Well, those are some of the more common obstacles that you might encounter as a young voter, it can get a lot more creative. Welcome to North Carolina A&T. It's the largest historically black college in the country,

and a big Democratic voting block. But when you look at a congressional map, A&T looks like two separate colleges. It's split between District 6 and District 13. So if you move from this dorm, over to that dorm, you're in a different district, with different representatives and a different polling place. By splitting the campus into two separate congressional districts, it diluted the power of A&T's collective voice. So what was once one congressional district with an African-American representative, it is now two congressional districts with two white Republican legislators.

Have you seen people discouraged from voting because of this? Not only do you get discouragement, there's also not wanting to register at all. It validates and affirms what young folks are saying when they say that their votes don't count. Yeah, that's a bummer. And honestly I haven't seen college students that disappointed since they saw me in Van Wilder too. In my defense, in my defense, that movie paid very well. Yeah, but look, this is the point of it. All of this is meant to freeze you out of the process and discourage you from participating. And I get it. It's easy as a young person to get demoralized and super high. I'm not not sure why I mentioned that. Sorry.

To be more clear, things are not hopeless. You know that gerrymandering at A&T? Well, it sparked a student revolt. And after a court order reunified the school, students there are now voting in record numbers. Now, pretty great. And it's not just them, it's not just them, despite all of those barriers. Young voters have shown up big in recent elections. In fact, last year, they may have made all the difference. The Gen Zers, millennials, they're now voting in record numbers.

Gen Z voters, people born in 1997 and later, are lapping their older millennial counterparts. I know a lot of people talking about young people, talking about being engaged, but not being engaged. We are seeing engagement. The energy from these young folks is real. They all but canceled out the votes of their grandparents of senior citizens who are some of the most reliable voters out there and also some of the most Republican voters out there. If not for young people we have a starkly

different result. We saw not a red wave. We didn't see a blue wave but we certainly saw a young voter Gen Z wave. A Gen Z wave! A Gen Z wave! Come on! Not a red wave, not a blue wave, not a millennial pink wave. So remember when I said the establishment feels threatened by you? Well that's because when you vote, you often get a lot of the things to happen. Marriage equality, climate action, and yes, we decriminalization. It's young people who overwhelmingly pushed to get this stuff done. So keep it up. Don't let them make you feel complacent. Because long story short, you're powerful. And that's why they're scared of you. So go make them scared. All right? Explore more shows from the Daily Show from the Daily Show podcast universe by searching

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