Young people could decide election — but only if they go to the polls
Twenty years ago, I published “Taking Back the Vote: Getting American Youth Involved in Our Democracy,” a book that grew out of a personal passion: Once my oldest child was able to cast a ballot, I became fascinated with the potential and obstacles facing our youngest voters.
I delved into the lengthy and messy midcentury struggle to pass the 26th Amendment, extending the franchise to 18-year-olds. The first bill to lower the voting age was introduced in Congress during World War II. Why should young people be old enough to be drafted but not old enough to vote? It had to be introduced 10 more times before it finally was enacted in 1971.
The bill’s proponents expected the hard-won victory to bring a surge in youth civic participation. Historically, when disenfranchised groups such as women and Black people got the right to vote, participation levels increased. But the 55.4% turnout in the 1972 presidential race remains the highest ever for voters ages 18 to 29.
Why?
In my book, I identified several causes and short-term solutions, including ending gerrymandering districts, strengthening civic education, and making registering and voting processes easier. But enduring solutions would require voting to become a habit — a civic ritual. Every young person’s first vote should be a communal celebration. If we memorialize proms and graduations, why not this rite of civic passage?
We’ve seen cataclysmic changes to the nation’s politics and civic behavior since 1972. Campaigns have moved online, and social media and misinformation have transformed the voting ecosystem. The youth electorate is far more diverse, and the nation is far more polarized.
Still, the central message — now borne out by decades more research, analysis and experience — has not changed. Accessibility and peer encouragement are what drive younger Americans to vote. A galvanizing candidate (Barack Obama, especially in 2008) or a hot-button issue (abortion in 2022) might help. But it is having the opportunity to vote that seems most impactful — and that varies greatly by state, thanks to the decentralized election system in the U.S. To get more young people to vote and make it a habit, we must dismantle barriers and disincentives.
Positive trends over the past two decades show the way.
The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement is a nonpartisan, independent research organization based at Tufts University that has compiled youth turnout rates for midterm and presidential election years since 2014. When the group looked at midterm data, all but one of the 40 states tracked had higher turnout in 2022 than in 2014, though the path wasn’t all positive. In 2014, only 13% of voters 29 and younger went to the polls; turnout climbed to 28.2% in 2018, then slipped to 23% in 2022.
The uptick over the two presidential campaigns the center followed was more dramatic: 39% in 2016, 50% in 2020. But there were discrepancies among states. The lowest 2016 youth turnout rate, in Texas, was 28%; the highest, in Minnesota, was 57%. The gap between the lowest (32% in South Dakota) and highest (67% in New Jersey) only widened in 2020.
Why? The center’s analyses suggest that election laws may play a central role. Consider: First-time voters must register, while established voters don’t have to. If potential voters move to another jurisdiction — and many young people are very mobile — they must register again.
States with easier, more inviting registration policies often have higher youth voter turnout. The center found that turnout over the years studied was 9% higher in counties that allow young people to pre-register to vote before they turn 18. In 2020, youth voter registration was 10% higher in states with online voter registration.
Conversely, in many states with onerous registration requirements, young people simply don’t vote. Tennessee, Alabama and Oklahoma do not have same-day, automatic or pre-registration, and their youth voting rates in the 2022 midterm were abysmal — 13% in Tennessee, and not much higher in the other states.
Voting rules vary dramatically across America. Many states loosened rules during the COVID pandemic allowing voting at home and easier absentee balloting. Some never turned back. Eight states automatically sent mail-in ballots to all registered voters in 2022 and many of these boasted high youth turnout as a result.
Another trend expressly targets younger voters — the growing number of states that require voter identification but won’t accept student ID cards. Permits to carry concealed weapons are often acceptable. Proof of attendance, even at a public university, is not.
This particularly rankles, because college campuses are easy and effective targets for mobilization. In a 2016 study, Elizabeth Bennion of Indiana University and David Nickerson of Temple University found that classroom-based drives increased registration by 6% and voting by 2.6%. Face-to-face presentations worked. Remote outreach such as email did not.
Even the most creative and intensive voter mobilization efforts do not confront the underlying structural reasons why so many Americans, especially so many younger Americans, find no purchase in voting. Even the fact that Election Day is not a federal holiday suppresses turnout. (Here’s an easy fix: Combine it with Veterans Day. What better way to celebrate freedom?)
The upswing of youth voting over the past few electoral cycles is a hopeful sign. Continuing the trend demands persistence, passion and patience. The strategies to encourage more young people to vote are sensible, well-documented and well-known. But 20 years on, I remain haunted: Do we, as a nation, genuinely want to welcome new voters?