Pennsylvania Report: 100 days to get to 100%
For the past 3 months, we’ve been ringing the alarm about depressed youth registration rates in PA.
With fewer than 100 days until the election, we’re ringing it again: As of July 15, 2024, fewer than one third of the state’s 18-year-olds (just 30.2%) were registered to vote.
That’s about 112,000 potential voters unable to use their voices at the ballot box this November.
In fact, registration decelerated month-to-month: registration increased only 1.2pts from mid-June to mid-July vs. 2.3pts from mid-May to mid-June.
The results reflected here were before the presidential conventions and candidate shakeups of the last few weeks. Various groups have reported significant increases in youth voter registration since that time. Still, by any measure, a 30 percent registration rate for 18-year-olds is not a strong starting point and reflects a 48pt. gap compared with the registration rate for those 45 and above. It is best understood as reflecting decades of under-investment in the youngest voters in general and high school voter registration programs in particular, as well as the state’s law allowing just a narrow window in which to register to vote before the age of 18.
There is an immediate solution to address at least some of the challenge: High School Voter Registration Week is September 23-27. Students and educators can come to a free training to learn how to run a drive in their high school. The Civics Center provides a Democracy in a Box toolkit and support for students and educators.
In the meantime, stay tuned (and stay active) to see how next month’s data compare.
See the scorecards below for details on registration by PA counties and school districts as of July 15th, and visit our research page for data going back to 2022.