Attention GenZ: Our time is now!

Marissa McKinney, Legislative Intern, Women4Change Indiana

Women4Change Voices

Gen Z grew up and became of voting age during a global pandemic, the elections of 2016 and 2020, which sparked unparalleled incivility and political violence on Capitol Hill.

Gen Z has not had it easy.

Gen Z has been written off as not a crucial part of the voting population. We know this is untrue. Gen Z has the power influence the outcome of elections with our vote.

41 million members of Gen Z will be eligible to vote in 2024 and nearly half of them are youth of color.

It is harder for new voters to vote in Indiana. But here’s why you need to: what’s on your ballot today will determine your tomorrow.

Indiana just passed HB 1264 into law- a bill that makes it more difficult for Gen Z to vote.

This bill limits the ability of college students to register at their college campuses and includes language that has the potential to disenfranchise new citizens, the unhoused, and college students, whose housing situations are transitional.

To meet the identification requirements HB 1264 sets forth, voters must provide proof of residency that matches Indiana’s BMV list, credit bureau reports, and the statewide voter registration list. This bill serves as a barrier for students to vote on their college campuses, thus not allowing them to make decisions that are going to impact them the most for the four years they are on that campus.

It does feel like there is an effort to silence our voices, but we can’t let them win.

If you will be spending upwards of four years on a college campus, don’t you want the people elected there to represent you and your ideas?

College students deserve to have their voices heard, and they deserve to make changes in the places that they are going to school.

Before it's too late, register to vote where you live. This bill isn't the first, and it certainly will not be the last that works to try and make voting harder for first-time voters. Indiana’s civic health index is the last in the nation and ranks among the last in voter turnout and Hoosiers should be asking some hard questions of our legislators about why this is acceptable to them, when they create these conditions in the first place.

Democracy only works when we do. So, pay attention Gen Z. We’ve seen what happens when we’re not watching: and democracy is finished when we give up our right to vote if it’s “too hard”.

You have until April 8th to register for the 2024 primary, or until noon the 9th (if your county office is closed on the 8th for the solar eclipse.)

Go to www.indianavoter.in.gov

Make sure to check your voter registration, and if you haven’t already done so, register today.

Vote, your future depends on it.

Do you have something to say on behalf of Gen Z and girls and women living in Indiana?

Reach out to Aimee West: aimee@women4changeindiana.org to share your knowledge and experience with Indiana through Women4Change Indiana’s “Voices”