Hey Pennsylvania: Register to Vote.
In Philadelphia and its surrounding suburbs, fewer than 20% of youth who will be 18-years-old on Election Day are registered to vote.
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.
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.
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
In Ohio’s two most populous counties, Franklin and Cuyahoga, under 25% of 18-year-olds are registered to vote. The deadline to register to vote in time for the upcoming May 3 election is April 4, 2022. There is an immediate need to help high school seniors register before they graduate this spring.
Wisconsin: Fewer than 1,500 18-year-olds in Milwaukee and Dane Counties are registered to vote. New research shows an urgent need for high school voter registration.
In Wisconsin’s two most populous counties, the overwhelming majority of 18-year-olds are not yet registered to vote. Just 4.5% of 18-year-olds in Milwaukee County and 10.5% of 18-year-olds in Dane County are registered to vote. New research supports an immediate need to help high school seniors register to vote before they graduate this spring.
In Pennsylvania school districts, most 18-year-olds are not registered to vote ahead of 2022 midterm elections
Despite the outsize role that youth play in this state, The Civics Center has found low voter registration rates for 18-year-olds in the most populous areas of the state, suggesting that our newest voters may not be adequately prepared to participate in this upcoming pivotal election.
Low Voter Registration Rates Among Teens Threaten To Depress Youth Voter Turnout in 2022 Midterm Elections
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.
In Arizona’s two largest counties, fewer than 15% of 18-year-olds are registered to vote
The Civics Center found that in Pima County just 9% of 18-year-old citizens had registered to vote. Maricopa fared somewhat better with 14% of 18-year-old citizens registered to vote.
The CA Gubernatorial Runoff’s Low Impact on Youth Preregistration Rates
The state of California had an overall preregistration rate of 12.94%. Since February 2021, the change in preregistration number was 19,084. With thousands of young people becoming eligible to register in California every year, it is crucial to continue the upward movement of preregistration rates, especially with the upcoming midterm elections in the fall of 2022.
Stop Being Invisible
In California, 71% of citizens age 25 and above are registered to vote. In the overwhelming majority of school districts in LA County, however, fewer than half of the young people who turned 18 in the six months following the November 2020 election are registered to vote.
Youth voters in New York City high schools could shift the Mayoral race, if they’re registered
Tens of thousands of potential new voters will be graduating from New York City’s high schools in June, and polls show that next month’s primary election for New York City Mayor is a wide-open race. These youth voters could play a decisive role in the outcome of the election, but only if they are registered to vote.
New York expanded voter preregistration to age 16. A year later, and with a Mayoral election on the horizon, most people haven’t noticed.
Only 61,567 of the state’s 16- and 17-year-olds were preregistered to vote as of April 2021. That represents just 13% of the approximately 484,317 youth in that age demographic.
The Pandemic Led to a Steep Decline in California’s Preregistration Rates: Our Systems Should Evolve to Meet the Moment
The California Secretary of State recently published the state’s most recent youth voter preregistration statistics from February 10, 2021. This report has illuminated a troubling trend for youth engagement and preregistration.
New voter registrations soar in Fulton County, Georgia
In Fulton County, Georgia, 9,769 new voters registered to vote between Election Day on November 3, 2020 and the December 7 cutoff to vote in the U.S. Senate runoff on January 5. This is according to documents The Civics Center has obtained from Fulton County officials.
Preregistration Is Taking Hold in California, and We Still Have a Long Way to Go
The California Secretary of State recently published the state’s youth voter preregistration statistics as of September 2020. Although school closures and the cancellation of summer events have led to a short-term decline in preregistration numbers, the long-term picture appears brighter.
New Voter Registrations Have Plummeted Due to COVID-19
Voter registration rates in April and May of 2020 have plummeted in relation to the rates in the same months in 2016. Declines in voter registration rates have been as significant as 75% in some states.
Colorado Shows Sharp Decline in New Voter Registrations
The number of new voter registrations in Colorado has significantly decreased from the spring of 2016 to the spring of 2020, according to newly released data obtained by The Civics Center from the Colorado Secretary of State.
In Arizona’s most populous county, youth voter registration rates are on the rise, but progress is uneven among school districts, and there is still a long way to go.
Voter registration rates for 17- and 18-year-olds in Maricopa County, Arizona have increased by nearly 50% (from about 21,000 to about 31,000) between August 2019 and April 2020. With the general election just six months away, however, and the challenges of COVID-19, there is still a long way to go.