College Town Politics
The largest single demographic group of East Lansing residents are students at Michigan State University -- 63.5% of the population is between the ages of 18-24.
East Lansing is located in Ingham county, and with Michigan being a swing state, the student vote also has a geographic distributional importance. This means that it's more important than ever to voice your opinion and especially within a college demographic like Michigan State.
Young Voters Turning out in Major Elections in East Lansing
Presidential Elections
In the 2020 election, Former President Joe Biden received 78.19% of earned votes on campus. In contrast to the 2024 election, Kamala Harris received 74.52% of votes on campus. It is important to mention the large difference in the total number of votes cast on campus in each election. In 2020, the total was 949, less than a third of the 3,092 votes cast in the 2024 election. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, students were not living on campus, so most ballots were cast by mail, and many students were away from East Lansing.
The 2022 Election
In 2022 East Lansing saw high voter turnout largely due to students wanting to have their voice heard on Proposal three on abortion access. One particular student, named Cole Current said he waited roughly four hours having arrived slightly before 8pm and staying till 12:30 am. Although in this instance wait times may have been unrealistic for everyone, in the 2024 presidential election wait times for voting were no more than 30 minutes, and no more than 45 minutes for same day registration voters.
Representing Students in City Politics: The University Student Commission
The East Lansing University Student Commission is interested in MSU students' views of East Lansing, and how the city could better serve student residents. The Commission has discussed results from a survey of students showing that the overwhelming majority of answers to the question “what is the biggest issue in East Lansing” was the housing and rent prices. Nearly all the participants in the survey were from the age range of 18-24. A very large majority of respondents were undergraduates, with 67% of the respondents living off campus. These demographics serve as a representation of the community in East Lansing and are something that should be referenced when looking at “community interests.” This research was found while attending the MSU student commission meeting.
The University Student Commission has also raised the issue of expanding the footprint and the timeframe for the road closure of Albert Ave. in downtown East Lansing, known as Albert Alfresco (shown in the photo). In a letter to council, commission members shared the following:
Supporting student voter turnout
Voting is one of the best ways to make your voice heard and actually influence the democratic process. In November of 2024 Michigan State was recognized as an ALL IN Most Engaged Campus for College Student Voting. The main organization contributing to this work is MSU Vote, a nonpartisan committee that is committed to increasing the number of registered voters. Young people generally turnout to vote at a lower rate than older generations. This happens for a variety of reasons such as the fact that young people may just not know the proper steps or have more obstacles in the way of getting to the polls. However, voting is especially important for young people because it gives them the opportunity to control their own future. While it is easy to feel like your one vote doesn't matter, elections - especially local ones- can be decided by just a few votes. For example, in 2000 in Michigan’s 8th district, Republican Mike Rogers defeated Democrat Dianne Bryum by just 111 votes out of the 297,609 total votes cast! Regarding local elections, in 2019 incumbent Erik Altmann lost to fellow council member Mark Meadows by just two votes. Michigan State students made up a negligible portion of the votes (just about 170) and could have easily swayed the race one way or another. Click here for more information on voting requirements for East Lansing.