Registration rate for 18-year-olds in Michigan is more than double that of Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Ohio
This is the second of our Election Season weekly series of Future Voter Scorecards.
Every Tuesday, we’ll be publishing the latest data that focuses on states and counties where young people are likely to have the greatest electoral significance.
We’ll be telling you the percentage of 18-year-olds who are registered and tracking changes over time.
Facts don’t fix themselves. It’s up to our readers to spread the word; make sure that all the young people are registered and that they get trained to help their school communities do the same.
Before we dive into Michigan and Arizona, remember, High School Voter Registration Week is September 23-27. Check out our website for free training for high school students and educators. Let high school educators in your life know about the new toolkits we’ve created to fill a huge gap - guiding educators through the process of bringing voter registration to their high schools and inspiring students to take the lead.
Michigan
Since May 2024, 18-year-old registration rates in Michigan have increased over 10 percentage points, from 62.9% to 73.4%. This is a tremendous accomplishment. Michigan registration rates for 18-year-olds have been steadily increasing all year, but the 10pt jump from May is an acceleration of that trend.
Likely contributors to the acceleration are the July 22nd registration deadline for Michigan’s state primary and the announcement of changes to the Democratic presidential ticket on July 21st.
Michigan’s registration rate for 18-year-olds is dramatically above rates in other states for which we have been tracking data.
While Michigan’s rate is impressively high, there are still ~34,000 unregistered 18-year-olds across Michigan who can make their voice heard in November. And the rate lags 19 percentage points behind the registration rate for those 45 and above.
Arizona
Arizona’s 18-year-old registration rate is also on the rise, but the pace is slower. Arizona has among the lowest rates of states we track: As of the beginning of August, only 32.5% of Arizona 18-year-olds were registered to vote. That is ~48pts behind the registration rate in Arizona for those 45+ (80.2%). Though we have a massive way to go in AZ, this is a significant (7.1 percentage point) increase from the 25.4% of 18-year-olds who were registered as of this April.
Approximately 63,000 18-year-olds are still unregistered. Two-thirds of those unregistered 18-year-olds are in Maricopa County, and that density presents a particularly compelling opportunity for Phoenix-area high schoolers to run registration drives as they return to school this month.