In Florida, with Midterms just five months away, the biggest obstacle to youth voter turnout is low levels of voter registration among youngest eligible voters.

Updated July 2024: Check out this 2024 article on the impact of young voters: Our Newest Voters Don’t Count (But They Should). For more up-to-date information on youth voter registration, check out this 2024 article: Bring Young Voters Onto The Voter Rolls NOW

Summary

As of May 16, 2022, in Miami-Dade County, approximately 25% of 18-year-olds are registered to vote. In Broward County, roughly 30% of 18-year-olds are registered to vote. Miami-Dade and Broward Counties are the most populous counties in Florida, and immediate action is required to make sure young people are registered to vote ahead of the Midterms. 

Background

With the midterms around the corner, most 18-year-olds in Florida are not yet registered to vote. Young people have the potential to play an enormous role in the upcoming elections nationwide, and especially in Florida. That potential will not become a reality, however, unless young people in the state begin to register to vote at a much faster pace.

Key findings

Broward County: Only 30% of 18-year-olds are registered to vote.

Miami-Dade County: Only 25% of 18-year-olds are registered to vote. 

Looking specifically at cities within Broward and Miami-Dade counties:

• In Broward County, Plantation has the highest registration rate for 18-year-olds, at 38.5%. Pembroke Pines has the lowest registration rate for 18-year-olds at 15.4%. 

• In Miami-Dade, Cutler-Bay has the highest rate at 40.5% and North Miami Beach has the lowest at 19.5%.

• According to US Census data, as of 2020, 74% of adults ages 25 and above were registered to vote. Thus older voters nationally are registered at more than twice the rate of 18-year-olds in Florida today.

2022 Future Voter Scorecard: Broward County, Florida

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2022 Future Voter Scorecard: Miami-Dade County, Florida

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Methodology

Data on the number of 18-year-olds registered in each city are based on Florida’s voter file dated May 16, 2022. We estimated the total 18-year-old population in each city using population data for 15- to 19-year-olds from the U.S. Census American Community Survey (5-year estimates). We then found the estimated voter registration rate by comparing the registered population estimated number of 18-year-olds for the ten most populous cities; cities were ranked by their voter registration rate for 18-year-olds.

Solutions

Nearly 500,000 young people in Florida who were not yet 18 in November 2020 will be age-eligible by election day in 2022. The margin of victory in the presidential election in 2020 was only about 370,000.

According to US Census data, in 2018, 66% of young people ages 18-24 who were registered to vote actually turned out. In 2020, 86% of registered youth voted. The adage that “young people don’t vote” needs adjusting to reflect that most registered youth do vote. Most of the youngest potential voters, however, are not registered. 

Florida, like many states, has an online voter registration system and also allows young people to preregister to vote beginning at age 16. Fifteen states and the District of Columbia offer preregistration starting at age 16. Virginia will begin offering preregistration at age 16 beginning in October of this year.

Florida is not alone in its low levels of voter registration for 18-year-olds. According to original research by The Civics Center, in many school districts across the country, fewer than 20% of 18-year-olds are registered. That includes Cleveland and Columbus, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, Madison and Milwaukee.

When young people are not registered to vote, they can be politically invisible to candidates and campaigns.  

As young people speak out about gun violence, reproductive freedom, climate change, racial justice, LGBTQ+ dignity and equality, jobs, education, student debt, mental health, and more, The Civics Center urges them to register to vote and to invite their friends to do the same. 

Want to get involved? Learn more at thecivicscenter.org.

Previous Publications from The Civics Center

The following publications provide additional information and data regarding registration and pre-18 registration across the country: 

• In Ohio, where youth could decide the US Senate race, fewer than 25% of 18-year-olds in the state’s largest counties are registered to vote
  (March 29, 2022)

• Wisconsin: Fewer than 1,500 youth in Milwaukee and Dane Counties are registered to vote. New research shows an urgent need for high school voter registration.
  (February 28, 2022)

• In Pennsylvania school districts, most 18-year-olds are not registered to vote ahead of 2022 midterm elections
  (January 4, 2022)

• Low Voter Registration Rates Among Teens Threaten To Depress Youth Voter Turnout in 2022 Midterm Elections
  (Dec. 16, 2021)

• 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)

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Laura W. Brill is the founder and Executive Director of The Civics Center. James F. Wenz is the Associate Director of The Civics Center. Isabelle Shapiro, who will be attending Brown University in the fall, provided significant research assistance for this effort.