Low Voter Registration Rates Among Teens Threaten To Depress Youth Voter Turnout in 2022 Midterm Elections

In almost every state in the country, teens under 18 can register to vote. Data recently obtained by The Civics Center (TCC), however, reveal that students, states, and school districts have not capitalized on this opportunity to ensure young people can vote as soon as they are eligible. This leads to lower voter turnout among young Americans, under-representation in the electorate, and less attention to issues important to this critical voting group. 

Key findings

• Almost all young people across the country are old enough to register to vote while they are still in high school.

• But at the end of the 2020-2021 school year, fewer than 20% of youth who will turn 18 by the 2022 midterms were registered to vote in most states that provided data, despite being eligible to register under their state laws.

• States and school districts are not taking full advantage of state laws allowing young people to register to vote before they turn 18.

• In many states, data on pre-18 registration is simply unavailable, creating challenges to track and improve youth electoral participation. 

Background

State laws allowing Americans under 18 to register to vote vary tremendously. Some states allow young people to “pre-register” to vote as soon as they turn 16. Teens who pre-register to vote are automatically added to their states’ voter rolls when they turn 18. Other states require young people to wait until they are 17, 17 ½, or in the case of Texas, 17 and 10 months, to pre-register or register to vote. 

Still other states allow young people to register if they will be 18 by the date of the “next election,” which different states define differently. Some states define the “next election” as the next federal election, which maximizes the time teens have to register before they are eligible to vote. Other states define the “next election” more narrowly to include primary and special elections. In these states the window for teens to register before they turn 18 can be very narrow, and such laws make the date on which any given teen can register to vote difficult to predict from year to year.

TCC uses the term “pre-18 registration” to refer to all laws that allow teens under 18 to pre-register or register to vote. Pre-18 registration does not allow teens under 18 to vote in federal elections. Instead, pre-18 registration creates an “onramp to democracy” to ensure as many citizens as possible are eligible to vote when they turn 18.

Results

TCC found the average pre-18 registration rate was just 12% among the 17 states and Washington, D.C. that provided data (see chart below). Indeed, only four states—Colorado, Maryland, North Carolina, and Utah—have a pre-18 registration rate of 20% or higher. 

TCC also found pre-18 registration rates in states that allow young people to register at 16 were, on average, higher than those in states that allow young people to register only if they will turn 18 by the next election. All of the states with pre-18 registration rates above 20% allow youth to pre-register beginning at age 16. Registration rates in states that allow 16-year-olds to pre-register to vote remained low, however, with Colorado topping the list at 35.4%. 

As TCC detailed in its March 2021 Report, laws, policies, and programs that encourage young people to begin submitting voter registration forms as soon as they turn 16 can have an enormous positive impact on youth voting. Pre-18 registration gives young people more time to register themselves and to hold registration drives in high school to encourage their peers to register. Pre-18 registration at 16 also increases awareness among high school students that they can register to vote before they turn 18, which is one of the most effective tools for increasing youth civic engagement and voting. 

State laws that reset registration eligibility after each election make it more challenging to organize voter registration drives and promote voter registration. Starting over with zero registrations after each election requires schools and organizations to focus on much larger groups of eligible young people as they ramp up registration efforts following an election. 

TCC’s research also shows that schools and school districts with student voter registration programs have higher registration rates among 18- and 19-year-olds. Furthermore, TCC’s data in Arizona show that registration rates do not automatically improve when students turn 18, and that further action is needed to engage them; fewer than 15% of 18-year-olds in the two largest counties in the state are registered to vote. Thus, improving youth voter registration requires (a) laws that allow pre-18 registration at 16; and (b) more focused efforts by schools and government officials to give young people opportunities to register in high school.

State pre-18 registration rates (descending by percentage, as of April/May 2021)

**Registration data from February 2021. California has been a focus of The Civics Center’s outreach and educational efforts in 2021. Pre-18 registration rates have risen nearly 2 percentage points over six months. As of August 2021, the pre-18 registration rate in California was 12.94%.

***Registration data from October 2021, the month in which the Montana Secretary of State’s office provided data in response to our April 9, 2021 request. 

Better Data Transparency Is Necessary To Improve Pre-18 Registration 

TCC’s research also highlighted the lack of information available to government officials and organizations seeking to improve pre-18 registration. For example, many states do not keep records of people under 18 who are registered to vote. Some states, like Massachusetts, provided monthly totals of the number of people under 18 who were registered, but did not keep running totals. States should track these numbers and provide more detailed data regarding pre-18 registration rates. That data can help identify the communities where states, school districts, and nonprofit organizations should invest resources to promote pre-18 registration.

Methodology

As noted, most states do not make pre-18 registration statistics publicly available. To fill this data gap, TCC requested data regarding pre-18 registration from all states except Idaho and North Dakota. Idaho allows only persons 18 and older to register to vote, and North Dakota does not require voter registration.

Population estimates were based on the U.S. Census ACS 5-year survey population data for 15- to 19-year-olds. For states that allow pre-18 registration if citizens turn 18 by a certain date, the population was estimated by determining the portion of 16- and 17-year-olds who would turn 18 in the months between April and November. 

Previous Publications from The Civics Center

The following publications provide additional information and data regarding pre-18 registration in Arizona and California: 

Research Report: In Arizona’s two largest counties, fewer than 15% of 18-year-olds are registered to vote(Dec. 1, 2021)

The CA Gubernatorial Runoff’s Low Impact on Youth Preregistration Rates (Oct. 26, 2021)

Stop Being Invisible (Sept. 27, 2021)

Introducing Future Voter Scorecards: OC Edition(Sept. 8, 2021)

Future Voters and Gaps in Our Democracy: A Report and Call to Action on the 50th Anniversary of the 26th Amendment (Mar. 23, 2021)