WASHINGTON ― President Donald Trump has been brazen about trying to make it harder for certain people ― voters who lean Democratic ― to vote in November.
He’s demanded Republicans “take over” voting and nationalize elections, and his White House says it “can’t guarantee” it won’t post immigration enforcement agents at polling stations, which would be illegal and aimed at deterring immigrants from voting. He’s now refusing to sign any more bills into law this year until Congress passes the SAVE America Act, a sweeping GOP measure that would virtually ban mail-in voting, require photo IDs to vote, and make people present a passport or birth certificate to register to vote.
But there’s another, less visible way his administration is quietly trying to stifle voting in the coming elections, and it’s targeted at a specific faction of people who tend to vote Democratic: students on college campuses.
The Trump administration has effectively killed the National Study of Learning, Voting and Engagement, a 13-year running nonpartisan research group that tracks student voting rates across more than 1,000 college and university campuses. NSLVE, which is housed at Tufts University, works with schools to boost student participation in national elections. It’s been credited with helping drive up college student turnout from 39% in 2016 to 47% in 2024.
