Republicans are trying harder than ever to suppress the youth vote

[Demovictory9]

The youth vote continues to play a major role in Democrats’ electoral success. A recent analysis found that Democrats maintain a 21-point advantage over Republicans with young voters. The GOP understands this problem well: As former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker admitted earlier this year on Fox News, “Young people are the problem,” and Republicans must “turn it around if [they] are going to win again.”

But Republicans are not “turning it around.” Despite holding the majority in the House, the GOP isn’t doing anything to address young people’s most specific concerns — whether it’s gun violence, climate change or student loans. Instead, the party — often behind closed doors — is taking a page out of the anti-democracy playbook. That is, Republicans are currently waging a sustained, intense and targeted war to disenfranchise young people in 2024.

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One chilling instance that highlights the depth of the GOP’s commitment came from Cleta Mitchell, a conservative lawyer who helped Donald Trump in his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. At a large Republican donor retreat earlier this year, Mitchell not only decried the ease of voting on college campuses, but detailed an elaborate, 50-page plan to establish “election integrity task forces” across the country to make it harder for young people to vote.

Mitchell’s plans are being reflected in legislation across the country. A study from the Voting Rights Lab reveals that at least 15 states have introduced or enacted legislation that would make it harder — or even illegal — for students to use their college ID to vote in elections. As Republicans know better than anyone else, elections are won on the margin. If they can keep one young voter from voting, they know it can make or break the election. And as Republicans have demonstrated, they will not back down from their sustained attacks on voting rights — whether they’re on Black voters or on young voters — because that is the only way for them to win elections. They will, quite literally, do anything to achieve and maintain power, even if it means undermining the fabric of democracy: the ability to vote.

Against this backdrop, it is critical for voters not to become apathetic or tap out. Instead, organizers, activists and the media must highlight how Republicans are undermining voting rights for racial and ethnic groups and young people.

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/republicans-youth-vote-2024-election-rcna128822