Study: Few Campuses Offered Early Voting in 2020

In the 35 states that offered in-person early voting in 2020, 90 percent of colleges did not have an early-voting site on campus, according to preliminary findings from a new study by MTV and Duke University’s master in interdisciplinary data science program.

The study also found that in those 35 states, 54 percent of colleges are farther than one mile from the nearest early-voting option, making it difficult for students without a car. And out of 45 states that reported Election Day polling data in 2020, 76 percent of colleges didn’t offer in-person Election Day voting, and 74 percent offered no in-person voting options, either early or on Election Day.

Only 25 percent of college students had an early-voting option on campus in 2020, and 44 percent could vote on campus on Election Day.

MTV and Duke collaborated to create the Campus Voting Access Project, a “student-led effort to better understand variation in the accessibility of polling places to college students across the U.S.,” the website says. The project aims to expand the preliminary findings in the coming months.