MinnVotes wins Rep. Betty McCollum’s 2024 Congressional App Challenge in Minnesota’s Fourth District

When asked what inspired the creation of MinnVotes, the student said, “I was inspired by seeing how passionate my generation is about the issues that affect us, but not utilizing one of their most important tools for changing society: voting. I was shocked to see the numbers for voter turnout by age; I never would’ve guessed youth are the demographic with the lowest turnout. I know that my generation is smart, capable, passionate and opinionated, so I feel at the deepest level disappointed to not see that reflected in voting statistics.

I chose to research more about some of the reasons why young people don’t end up voting, and the data surprised me. A significant reason young people are turned away from the polls is that they either lack information, or lack a plan to vote on time. I knew that I had a responsibility to change things. There are many opportunities to vote in Minnesota: we have in person early voting, mail-in ballots and the option to take time off work to vote. When talking to my peers, I found out that many of them did not know about these options or had a plan to vote. MinnVotes seeks to address this issue, walking new voters through the process of verifying eligibility, checking registration, requesting an absentee ballot or choosing an early voting polling location, and making a plan to vote, which is then texted to them for easy reference later.

I hope that this tool makes it easy for the young people of Minnesota to understand and identify how they can get to the polls and have their voice heard.”