This week, we’re highlighting two high-achieving states, Georgia and Michigan, which have some of the highest levels of 18-year-old voter registration among the states we are tracking this summer.

Our latest data from PA and OH support national headlines touting increases in youth voter registration following the changes in the Democratic presidential ticket. But more than 60% of 18-year-olds in both states remain unregistered.

This is the fourth of our 2024 Election Season weekly series of Future Voter Scorecards. Today, we are focusing on Massachusetts, New York, and California, three states that offer preregistration starting at age 16 and that have implemented the law with differing degrees of success.

In the six months between December 2023 and June 2024, registration rates for 18-year-olds in New Hampshire saw a tremendous improvement, especially considering this is a state where registration is particularly tricky for young people.

Since May 2024, 18-year-old registration rates in Michigan have increased over 10 percentage points, from 62.9% to 73.4%, rates that are more than double those of Arizona, Pennsylvania and Ohio.

With the school season starting across the country, we’re pleased today to be publishing a brand-new resource for high school educators looking for a way to engage their students in voter registration and civic engagement for this election and for years to come.

Between now and Election Day, we’ll be publishing on a weekly basis, every Tuesday. We’ll be giving regular updates on voter registration rates in states where young people are likely to have the greatest electoral significance.

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.

Governor Shapiro, we have a state of emergency in Pennsylvania: only 29% of 160,000 18-year-olds are registered to vote, and the registration deadline is approaching!

Shannon Salter, a high school civics teacher in Allentown, PA is the model we’d like to see in every high school classroom in America.

Only 40% of New York State’s 250,000 18-year-olds are registered and ready to vote in the upcoming primary. Compare that to residents aged 45+ who are registered at 77%, and it’s not OK.

Michigan blew us away: 62.9% of the state’s 18-year-olds are registered to vote as of May 1. It’s not every day we get to report on something going great when it comes to states helping the youngest voters register.

High school voter registration could dramatically improve low rates in just a few years, and we can make it happen, together.

Ohio is set to have one of the most consequential elections in the nation this November, and only 32% of the state’s 18-year-olds are registered to vote.

Young Arizonans can only exercise their power if they are registered to vote. Today, only 25% of the state’s 18-year-olds are registered, versus 81% of Arizonans aged 45+.

Over 200,000 young people who are either 18 today or who will be 18 by November remain unregistered. In the ten highest population counties in the state, not a single one has a registration rate for 18-year-olds at or above 30%.

New York is on the path to increasing high school voter registration dramatically, but more work is needed to ensure 250,000 high school seniors are registered before they graduate.

High school voter registration is the most equitable, high-impact, and realistic path we have to universal voter registration and, from there, universal voting. That’s why we created Cap, Gown & Ballot.

If the term “likely voter” were to reflect the full strength of young people who are actually likely to vote in November, pollsters would have to make some effort to find and to survey likely voters who are not yet registered.

The DMV’s official website is inadvertently encouraging users to opt out of voter registration, and young people are impacted the most. More than 111,000 teens opted out in 2022 alone (more than 300 every day). Secure AVR would fix that.