Getting Youth Engaged in Democracy
Posted by Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR) on December 9, 2025
In the 2024 election, as in every US election going back decades, tens of millions of Americans, including more than 10 million young people, were not registered to vote and therefore were unable to cast a ballot.
Voter registration is an administrative process to create a list of voters who are eligible to participate in elections. In the United States, many otherwise-eligible voters are left out because they are not registered. The exclusionary impact is greatest for groups that are most marginalized, including those who are not white, have low incomes, and/or do not go to college, drive, or speak English as their primary language, and young people.
Many people assume that young people turn out to vote at low rates, even when they are registered. But that is not the case, at least in major national elections. According to US Census data, more than 75 percent of registered youth turned out in every presidential election going back to 2004. In 2020, 86 percent of registered youth turned out, and in 2024, 82 percent of registered youth turned out.
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