They’re young and want change; now they’re ready to vote for the first time
The New York Times
LANCASTER, Pa. — On an overcast afternoon this month, a block party was in full swing, the hot dogs were going fast, and Chris Underhill, freshly graduated from high school, was savoring a new milestone: He had registered to vote for the first time.
Filling out the form offered by a political activist not much older than him took about three minutes. But its significance was not lost on Mr. Underhill, 18, who grew up in this city on the edge of Amish country, 75 miles west of Philadelphia.
An aspiring actor who helped organize a local march following this year’s deadly mass shooting in Parkland, Fla., Mr. Underhill said his everyday worries mirror those that fuel the anxieties of his generation, such as how to pay for college and losing access to health care.
And then there’s the presidency of Donald Trump.
“This country’s just gone off the walls since Trump got elected,” he said, echoing the impressions of thousands of new Pennsylvania voters his age. “But now I have the powerto vote and make it better, starting with Lancaster andthen going bigger.”
Weary of a political system that many young Americans see as rigged against their generation, and fired up to elect candidates who they believe support the issues they care about, a surge of young adults between the ages of 18 and 29 have registered to vote this year, according to data from 39 states compiled by Targetsmart, a Democratic polling firm.
Pennsylvania is leading the groundswell, with registered voters 34 and younger now outnumbering those 65 and older, according to the latest statistics from the Pennsylvania State Department issued Aug 13. States like Arizona, New York, Florida and Virginia have also seen sharp increases.
Pennsylvania residents who are younger than 30 years old now make up nearly two-thirds of new voter registrations, up from less than half in the weeks before the February massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, an attack that left 17 students and staff members dead and sparked a wave of nationwide student-led protests and demands for gun control.
Registered voters younger than 35 — a quarter of the state’s total — now outnumberthose 65 and older.
Though Mr. Trump won Pennsylvania, capturing 12 of the 18 congressional districts and all 20 electoral votes, progressive organizers said they hope the rise in young registered voters will help elect Democrats in competitive midterm statewide and congressional races.
The surge of youth registrations, said Jarret Smith, Pennsylvania’s youth director for NextGen America, can be attributed to a network of grass-roots organizations and passionate activists who have spent the spring and summer knocking on doors, confronting candidates and building relationships with residents — not just in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, but across the towns, smaller cities and college campuses where they said voters have long been ignored.