Donuts and Democracy: How We Got Students Voting | Jhanvi Patel | TEDxOU
Jhanvi Patel shares how Oklahoma Votes, a student organization, dramatically increased voter registration by addressing three key barriers: complexity, irrelevance, and disillusionment. By meeting students where they are, making voting personally relevant, and building genuine relationships, they helped 9% of the student body register to vote.
Summary
Jhanvi Patel discusses her experience as a civic engagement fellow with Oklahoma Votes during the 2024 presidential election, where she discovered that offering free food was an effective way to engage college students in voter registration. She challenges the assumption that young people don't care about politics, noting that college students have strong opinions on issues like climate change, mental health, and the economy, but face systemic barriers to participation. Oklahoma has the nation's lowest voter turnout, with 18-29 year-olds having the lowest participation rates.
Patel identifies three main categories of disengaged students: those who find the process too complicated (including out-of-state students who don't know their options), those who claim it's not relevant to their lives, and disillusioned students who understand civic engagement's power but feel repeatedly let down by the system. Her team developed targeted strategies for each group, including removing barriers by offering registration for all 50 states, handling absentee ballot requests, and providing notarization services.
To address relevance, they customized presentations for different student groups - discussing arts funding with fine arts students and NIL legislation with athletes. They maintained strict nonpartisanship while building relationships across campus. For disillusioned students, they created a social media campaign featuring student testimonials about why they vote, focusing on personal rather than political motivations. The organization ultimately helped about 9% of the student body register to vote, broke attendance records at events, and created a welcoming community regardless of political affiliation. Patel concludes that democracy fails not because people don't care, but because institutions don't meet people where they are.
Key Insights
- College students aren't disengaged from the system, rather the system is disengaged from them
- Over 40% of students are non-residents who often incorrectly believe they can't vote because they're not from the area
- Oklahoma has the lowest voter turnout rate among any state in the nation, with 18-29 year-olds having the lowest participation rate among any age group
- When students found voting complicated, Oklahoma Votes removed barriers by offering registration for all 50 states and handling absentee ballot requests and notarization
- Oklahoma Votes helped around 9% of the student body register to vote or request an absentee ballot in the days leading up to the 2024 presidential election
Topics
Transcript
[0:03] I learned two things during the 2024 presidential elections. College students will stop for free food and if you want to register voters, bring cookies. I'm here to talk about Oklahoma Votes, a student-run nonpartisan organization here on campus. That year, I had the privilege of serving as one of their two civic engagement fellows. And dare I say, our sweet treat budget was probably the highest it's ever been. We developed a pretty close working relationship with the employees of Baked Bear, Insomnia Cookies, and Donut King. But behind the joke is a material problem. College [0:35] students aren't at the polls. But it's not because they don't care. It's because the process feels confusing, distant, or just…
Full transcript available for MurmurCast members
Sign Up to AccessMore from TEDx Talks
The human who doesn't exist | Bill Ovenden | TEDxBrisbane
Bill Ovenden argues that behavior change fails not due to lack of motivation but because systems are poorly designed for real humans. By removing friction—small barriers that disproportionately impact behavior—through thoughtful design choices, people naturally follow through on good intentions without requiring additional willpower or discipline.
What's Really Hiding in Our Oceans | Claire Potter | TEDxUniversity of Sussex
Claire Potter, a designer and marine plastic researcher, explains the scale and complexity of ocean plastic pollution, discussing how plastic enters oceans through various sources, persists indefinitely, and bioaccumulates toxins throughout the food chain. She argues that solving this crisis requires a circular economy approach combining global legislation, system design, and long-lasting products rather than relying solely on recovery efforts.
We Thought We Were Creating Jobs: The Power of Inclusion at Work | Julie Agashiwala | TEDxRiverdale
Julie Agashiwala describes how Café Joyeux, a coffee shop chain founded in 2017, employs people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in customer-facing roles. Beyond creating employment, the initiative transforms the lives of employees, their families, supervisors, and customers by shifting societal perceptions about disability and human potential.
Stillness: Permission to Stop | Idília Ramos | TEDxPraça Gil Eanes
Idília Ramos shares her personal journey from a childhood shaped by Portuguese dictatorship to burnout as a high achiever, arguing that modern society's worship of constant motion is harmful to mental health. She advocates for 'stillness' as a powerful form of freedom and describes her school's successful implementation of meditation and emotional learning to help children develop healthier relationships with rest and presence.
Trusting your inner wisdom | Dr. Karin Luise | TEDxJohns Creek
Dr. Karin Luise discusses how the body provides signals about alignment and misalignment before the mind makes decisions, and argues that people suffer from disconnection from themselves rather than lack of potential. She introduces a three-question practice called "the return" to help people reconnect with their inner compass and prioritize joy and alignment.