New Hampshire: Big Boost in 18-year-old Voter Registration Rate
But New Hampshire still lags other states due to their voter suppression laws.
This is the third of our 2024 Election Season weekly series of Future Voter Scorecards.
We’ll be publishing every Tuesday 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 New Hampshire, 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.
New Hampshire
In the six months between December 2023 and June 2024, registration rates for 18-year-olds in New Hampshire increased 12.2ppts, from 9.0% to 21.2%. This is a tremendous improvement for a state where registration is particularly tricky for young people – New Hampshire does not offer online voter registration, DMV registration or mail-in registration. Documentary proof of residency is required, and there is a narrow window to register before the age of 18.
This progress is especially exciting given The Civics Center’s efforts, in partnership with Open Democracy NH, to support a program of voter registration drives in New Hampshire high schools in the first half of 2024. The program included 18 drives in 15 towns across the state and contributed to the statewide increase.
Notably, Exeter and Bow, two towns that had drives, increased registration rates by 36 ppts and 27 ppts respectively.
With nearly 13,000 18-year-olds still estimated to be unregistered across the state, we hope that in the coming months high schoolers in New Hampshire will continue the energizing work of encouraging their peers to register. Keep up the momentum!
New Hampshire high school students and educators can sign up for the Sept. 14 training by The Civics Center and Open Democracy NH here.
