Voter turnout in midterm elections is generally lower than in presidential elections. For example, nonpartisan research group Ballotpedia reports that 63.9 percent of eligible voters nationwide cast ballots in 2024, compared with 46.2 percent in 2022. Numbers were higher in Pennsylvania – 71.4 percent vs. 54.4 percent – but still show a large disparity. Nationwide, turnout among young Americans (ages 18 through 29) is even lower: 47 percent in 2024 vs. 23 percent in 2022, according to the Tufts University Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.

Lehigh Valley educators spoke with the Press about why voter education and participation is important. High school and college instructors alike support an informed and engaged electorate, even – or perhaps especially – in this midterm election year.

A federal system

of government

Chris Borick is professor of political science at Lehigh University. For several years, he directed the Institute of Public Opinion at Muhlenberg College which has been polling voters for 25 years on specific elections and issues of public interest.

“As we recognize the nation’s 250th birthday,” Borick says, “it is a good time to remember that the United States is a federal system of government where power is shared between the national government and the states. While voting in presidential election years certainly is important given the incredible power of the executive and members of Congress, a great deal of power remains at the state level and the municipalities that the state has established.”

Anthony Massa of East Stroudsburg HS has found creative ways to help students connect with the concept of federalism. With decades of teaching experience, he often finds it useful to pivot from a planned lesson to a topic of serious interest that emerges among his students, using their curiosity as a way to interest them in both America’s founding documents and active citizenship. For example, he explains, a student inquiry about drinking age or gun laws can be a springboard into a discussion of federalism.

East Stroudsburg HS has found creative ways to help students connect with the concept of federalism. With decades of teaching experience, he often finds it useful to pivot from a planned lesson to a topic of serious interest that emerges among his students, using their curiosity as a way to interest them in both America’s founding documents and active citizenship. For example, he explains, a student inquiry about drinking age or gun laws can be a springboard into a discussion of federalism.

“We talk about the 10th Amendment [‘The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people’]… It makes for a more engaging civics lesson.”

Everyone has a stake in the non-presidential elections, Lehigh’s Borick makes clear. He lists several key areas in which midterm-elected officials are decision-makers.

“Powers in areas such as education, housing, land use, transportation and public health are concentrated at the state and local levels and thus engaging in the elections of officials that set those policies is very valuable in terms of shaping life in the communities that we live in.”

Barb Connolly and Cheryl Winters-Tetreau, co-vice presidents of the League of Women Voters of Lehigh County, echo Borick’s point. Referring to a slogan LWV uses at tabling events, Connolly says, “Voting is your superpower! It’s a powerful way to affect decisions that your government makes nationally and statewide. Housing, roads, bridges, childcare… a whole lot of issues that impact us are relevant at midterms. Voting is your superpower twice a year.”

Winters-Tetreau notes that Vote411.org, a project of the LWV, allows voters all over the country to see individual candidates’ positions, in their own words, without editorializing, customized for each voter’s address.

“Vote411 is the electronic version of the voters’ guide included in [local newspapers],” she explains, “but Vote411 doesn’t have a word limit.”

Marcie Mulligan teaches American Government at Bethlehem Catholic HS, where she encourages her 10th-grade students to become informed about issues and where candidates and officials in office stand. “You can have a bigger voice in local politics,” she notes, explaining that she shows her students each year the number of Bethlehem residents eligible to register to vote, the smaller number actually registered, and the even smaller number who actually vote.

Mulligan demonstrates to her students the different responsibilities of different elected officials by contacting them as part of in-class demonstrations. She has spoken with Pa. Rep. Jeanne McNeill’s staff to resolve a DMV-related issue, for example, as well as calling U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie’s office to inquire about his position on an upcoming vote on a federal bill.

“If I go to a school board meeting,” she tells her class, “my voice is going to be heard, and there’s even a shot it’s going to be in the Lehigh Valley Press the next day.”

“It’s disheartening to see turnout drop off dramatically,” Lehigh’s Borick laments, “between presidential elections and midterm elections, and even more so during off-year elections where most county and municipal officials are chosen. It’s also important to note that in addition to the governor’s and state legislative elections in Pennsylvania this fall, voters can weigh in on U.S. House of Representatives races, including in one of the most competitive districts in the nation, which is the PA-7th.”

East Stroudsburg’s Massa, who teaches both 10th-grade civics and 11th-grade American history, sees local elections as an opportunity for engaging young people in civic participation. He notes that state and municipal officeholders are often present at local events – including high school football games – and that local political coverage in The Pocono Record is both comprehensive and accessible to students.

“The Pocono Record will have a questionnaire for local candidates, interviews with local politicians, people running for school board and city council… local issues are very important in the local newspaper,” Massa says, adding, “Those are the conversations I’ll hear from students and colleagues.”

‘Ultimately the government is supposed to be shaped by us’

Aislinn Gilmartin takes civic engagement among young people very seriously. Her 11th-grade AP Government students at Freedom HS run a voter registration drive during their lunch period, just one part of the active learning experience of the class.

Pennsylvania requires that an individual be 18 before the time of the next election in order to register, and that registration be completed 30 days before Election Day. Gilmartin’s juniors are registering seniors using paper forms and a Chromebook. She notes that “the paper forms are a little more fun” for students who spend much of their time using screens.

One benefit of the timing of the AP Government class is that students are engaged in the registration process in advance.

“The students help with the registration drive,” Gilmartin explains, “and they know that in the following year, they’ll be able to register easily. They’re already planning on registering.”

For students whose coursework at Bethlehem Area Vocational-Technical School or in another program takes them out of the high school building during the lunch period, Gilmartin provides paper forms and actively encourages registration.

Most of Gilmartin’s students have long-term plans to venture beyond the Lehigh Valley, but that doesn’t stop them from doing their initial registration locally.

“You get your foot in the door,” she says, “and then you have time to make any adjustments” by requesting an absentee ballot while away at college or serving in the military or changing registration after a permanent move.

With a mission described by Connolly as “empowering voters, defending democracy, and making sure people who have the right to vote have access to the ballot,” the League of Women Voters performs voter outreach on college campuses.

She explains, “We get young people the information that they have a choice if they want to vote at their home address, or at their college address, and the dates that they would need to get a mail-in ballot to vote using their home address.”

Among other tools, Gilmartin uses the AdFontes Media Bias Chart (adfontesmedia.com/gallery/) to teach students how to recognize bias in different sources of information.

“[Every source] has its bias,” she notes, “but we talk about getting our news more responsibly… making sure you’re at least offsetting [one source’s bias by seeking] another perspective.”

Freedom’s AP Government students identify all their elected officeholders, from the president down to the local level, and are assigned postcard-writing campaigns to communicate with officials – to commend or to rebuke them – about specific actions they’ve taken. For example, one student thanked State Senator Lisa Boscola for her work opposing cruelty to animals.

Teaching engagement with current officeholders and awareness of the different responsibilities of each office flows naturally into a discussion of why voting matters.

“We’ve seen the results of large groups of voting blocs not voting,” Gilmartin says, “but we also know they can absolutely make a difference, whether it’s in local or national elections. I try to show my students that… ultimately the government is supposed to be shaped by us.”

When government decisions feel as if they’re driven by people or groups who don’t share our interests, Gilmartin says, we need to ask, “Is that because there’s something wrong with the system, or because we’re not utilizing the system?”

‘You can’t complain unless you take an active part’

James P. West, MBA, PhD, is professor of economics and business and former chairman of the Department of Economics and Business at Moravian University. He has worked and volunteered all over the world, including serving as a Fulbright professor in Slovakia.

“In economics, we talk about ‘dollar votes’ – you want a particular type of product, and your dollars are the votes that express your opinions,” West explains. Although your vote in an election “is only one vote,” he acknowledges, “that vote is very important. That vote is your voice.”

West believes in the importance of civic education and participation in public life. He asserts that “we’re in a transitional point in human history, where technology is having a large impact, giving us the opportunity to isolate ourselves.”

“I think you have to actively work against that,” he advises. “We do that by getting out to vote, going to a neighbor’s house for a picnic, going to the community center, and participating as a volunteer.”

For this reason, West finds in-person voting particularly important. While supporting absentee ballots for individuals who “for occupational, mobility or military reasons” cannot be present at a polling place, he voices the view that “making absentee ballots a general rule is unnecessary.”

West elaborates on the crucial nature of in-person voting as reinforcing evidence of a functioning democratic process.

“Part of civic pride is seeing your neighbors at the polling place and showing that there is a voting mechanism operating. In the case of selecting the leaders of your state or your country, you should get up and go to the polling place and participate in the activity.”

He outlines a case for individual responsibility.

“We should do everything we can to maintain a trustworthy system, and to be educated voters, to understand what the issues are… Finding the truth is your independent responsibility. People have to want to find the truth, and check things out for themselves.”

Becahi’s Mulligan shares this view.

“I expect students to have different values and perspectives,” she explains, “but I want to teach them to know what they believe, and really to discover it from unbiased sources.”

Her students compare news coverage tagged as left, right, and center from AllSides.com, as well as using House.gov and Senate.gov to compare elected officials’ votes with the positions they espoused when running for office.

“It’s not just about election day,” Mulligan asserts, making the case for everyday civic involvement. “It’s about being informed from one election day to the next… Peacefully protesting against something you disagree with – that’s the beauty of something you have in this country… If you want to do nothing, you can. But you can’t complain unless you take an active part.”

“When they get frustrated with whoever’s in office,” Mulligan reports, “I say, ‘That’s the beauty of elections. You can vote the person out. We have elections and you can play a role in that.’ It’s a privilege to be able to teach these students at Beca to be able to appreciate our government and know they can play a role in it.”

East Stroudsburg’s Massa suggests that some young people’s apparent apathy may have its roots in the belief that their most important concerns are not being addressed.

“A lot of their concerns are affordability – being able to own a home, being able to pay off college loans if they go to college – and they feel disengaged from the system,” he says.

Noting that in prior years, both major parties used affordability as a key talking point, with Democrats endorsing progressive programs and Republicans touting free-market solutions, Massa highlights financial worries as “the issue [students] keep circling back to.”

These days, he indicates, young people seem more likely to feel heard at the local level.

“[Students] are interested in who their state senators are. There is a connection between [these officials and] what happens in their daily life.”

Moravian’s West believes citizens who have been unhappy with government policies have reason to hope, and to continue to participate.

“Be engaged,” he says. “You don’t win the battle right away, but little by little, you [make inroads]. Do not give up… but continue to voice your opinion and be respectful, and eventually bad policies will prove themselves to be bad policies, and good policies will prove themselves to be better.”

In Pennsylvania, Oct. 19 is the last day to register to vote in 2026; Oc. 27 is the last day to request a mail-in ballot. Election day this year is Nov. 3 – the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November – and the polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

More dates and deadlines are available online (pa.gov/agencies/vote/elections/upcoming-elections).