Help High School Students Close the Voter Registration Gap
You Can’t Fix What You Can’t See. That’s why we created visualizations exposing the voter registration gap between young and old—and why high school students have the power to close it.
Teens have the right to free speech. They can organize their friends, lead non-partisan voter registration drives, and expand the American electorate for a stronger and more representative democracy.
Looking for more actions to take after No Kings Day? I suggest learning about the massive voter registration gap that exists between the youngest voters (18-year-olds: under 30% registered) and older Americans (age 45+: 75%), then getting involved in helping teens close it.
The gap means older generations count almost twice as much as the youngest potential voters. It distorts our politics. It distorts democracy. It distorts the future. And it points to a failure we must urgently confront: registration is a barrier to up-and-coming voters, and has resulted in millions of voices unheard, cycle after cycle. We must work together to lower the barrier, and welcome young people into our democracy with pride, intention and consistency.
So, our #1 ask is to join us. Learn about the Voter Registration Gap here. Dive into the data here. And help teens close the gap by supporting high school voter registration in your community. You can also explore state- and county-level data for PA, OH, NY, NJ, NC and MI. It’s easy to share those charts and maps with your network, and bring others into the movement.
You can make a difference.
Start with the graphic below, which you can share by passing along this post and inviting your friends to subscribe to TCC’s Substack. Or you can share from Facebook or Instagram.
The goal is to raise awareness of the problem, and the opportunity that pre-registration represents. That means recruiting students and educators to run nonpartisan voter registration drives in their high schools, twice a year, every year. It means teaching young people about why voting matters, how it can affect change, and how we’re all in this together.
The Civics Center is here to provide free training, resources and incentives, so that every high school in America becomes the place where everyone registers to vote before stepping into adulthood. Once that becomes a reality, we’ll be one step closer to a fully representative democracy in which we all can thrive.
Want to take the next steps?
Learn more at our website.
Talk to the young people or parents in your life to encourage high school students to register to vote and get trained to hold a voter registration drive in their school.
Talk to leaders of state, local and national nonprofits that serve students and educators, and encourage them to partner with us.
Donate to support the work so we can bring the opportunity everywhere and solve the problem of low youth registration and turnout once and for all.