Student Turnout and Engagement Project

Since 2018, Florida’s colleges and universities have played a crucial role in expanding community access to early voting through on-campus locations. The Student Turnout and Engagement Project (STEP) tracks the number of votes cast at these early voting sites, providing valuable insights into voter turnout trends and the overall impact of on-campus early voting locations.

Background

The Florida Secretary of State, through the Division of Elections, issued an advisory opinion in 2014 holding that on-campus buildings could not used for early voting. Students at the University of Florida  and Florida State University, supported by the Andrew Goodman Foundation and the League of Women Voters of Florida, sued to invalidate the opinion.

During a 2018 trial, U.S. District Court Judge Mark Walker considered if the opinion "categorically bar[ring] early voting on any university or college campus violate[d] the First, Fourteenth, and Twenty-Sixth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution." Walker ruled the opinion was unconstitutional as "[t]hrowing up roadblocks in front of younger voters does not remotely serve the public interest." Walker held that the Secretary erred in interpreting Florida’s election statutes to prohibit campus buildings from being used for early voting.

Following Walker's ruling, Florida supervisors of election were empowered to provide early voting on college and university campuses beginning with the 2018 midterm election. Twelve schools—Edward Waters College (EWC), Florida A&M University (FAMU), Florida Atlantic University (FAU), Florida International University (FIU), Florida State University (FSU), Miami-Dade College (Kendall and North campuses; MDC), Nova Southeastern University (NSU), University of Central Florida (UCF), University of Florida (UF), University of North Florida (UNF), University of South Florida (USF), and University of West Florida (UWF)—organized early voting locations that year. In the ensuing years, nearly twenty total campuses—public and private—across the state have hosted early voting locations.