Building Civic Habits

Humans are habit forming. Some of those habits come from our parents: brushing our teeth each morning and night. Some come from our age: staying up late or procrastinating on our homework. Some come from our peers: scrolling on social media or trendy catch phrases of the era. I still remember saying that nearly everything around me was “wicked cool” when I was 20! Many of our lifelong habits are ones we form during our teens and 20s and will stick with us for a lifetime.

That means that students and young people alike (18-29 year olds) are at the perfect point in life to choose which habits they want to define them for the rest of their lives! So why not start today to engage in the voting process to ensure it can be a lifelong practice.

Here’s a pitch for making voting the next habit you form. First, let’s go through the benefits of voting:

1. You can impact your community by driving improvements for you, your friends, and your family.
2. You can change the world and impact policy by telling elected officials that young people are not to be ignored.
3. You can disprove those who think “young people never vote.”
4. Bonus — you get a sticker!

Voting in one election substantially increases the likelihood of voting in the future (Gerber, Alan S., Donald P. Green & Ron Shachar (2003)). Knowing that voting once can lead to voting as a habit, we can explore further how forming a voting habit is impactful. For instance, looking into ways to make voting fun and rewarding ensures that voting feels empowering and not frustrating.

Too often, voters find the voting process to be overwhelming and complicated, likely decreasing their confidence in their vote. Even a simple question like “when is my next election?” may not be easy to figure out — especially when you layer in various state regulations and deadlines related to registering to vote and casting a ballot. For instance, you may need to check the websites of your Secretary of State or Board of Elections, your state, your county or even your town government offices before you know what is on your ballot. Finding out which candidates deserve your vote can also be difficult. Did elected officials cast votes that align with your values? Do new candidates believe what you believe? These are the kinds of questions that stop voters from gaining confidence around voting and prevent habits from being created.

But what if all of this was in one place? What if you could simply enter your address, take a few minutes a day, and feel informed and confident to vote in every election? And what if you got badges and earned credit for your streaks? And what if you could share with friends and amplify the power of your vote with your network? What if voting not only felt good, but the process made you more confident to talk with others about the policies that you are passionate about? What if you could build a community of voters around you who helped to change the world? Habits are formed by taking actions regularly and doing so for long enough that it becomes second nature and will feel strange when you stop.

To help form your voting habits, explore these resources:

• ActiVote was created to help form the habit of voting by removing obstacles and providing just the facts on candidates and elections, allowing people to easily access relevant and unbiased information about upcoming elections and candidates on their own time. A single two minute action each day will ensure that you never miss an election.
• ALLINtoVote.org is a free, one-stop shop for campuses and students to navigate the voting process. This nonpartisan tool helps individuals to register to vote, confirm their voter registration status, determine how and where to vote, learn about what is on their ballot, pledge to vote, and compete in the ALL IN campus leaderboard pledge competition.
• Civic Holidays were created to be nonpartisan days of action to celebrate every part of the democratic process. Through celebrating these holidays, you have built-in reminders to register to vote, learn about your ballot, determine your voting method, and more! Celebrating Civic Holidays and incorporating the ActiVote and ALL IN to Vote tools are a great way to make participating in the democratic process a habit.

ActiVote has partnered with the nonpartisan ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge to share this resource for everyone to build their civic habit. Give it a try!

More than 1072 colleges and universities currently participate in the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge. Learn more about ALL IN and support our work here.