In Philadelphia and its surrounding suburbs, fewer than 20% of youth who will be 18 on Election Day are registered to vote.
We looked at official voter files for Philadelphia and its surrounding Pennsylvania suburbs as of July 2022. We compared these numbers to county population data from the American Community Survey. See the results for yourself below, and brace yourself.
Helping young people register to vote will lead to higher youth turnout. According to US Census numbers, 66% of 18- to 24-year-olds who are registered voted in November 2018.
If you have been wondering about effective actions you can take to strengthen democracy right now, the numbers give you the answer. Ask every young person you know who will be old enough to vote for the first time this November to register to vote now.
Even better, tell a student about High School Voter Registration Week and encourage them to sign up for one of our one-hour workshops where they will learn all they need to know to run a voter registration drive in their school. Or, better, still, or urge them to apply for one of our in-depth programs, Future Voters Action Week or Youth Democracy Leaders.
Don’t stop there. You can give them a sticker or a postcard to encourage them. Sign up for a volunteer training workshop to learn about effective outreach to schools. Four million youth turn 18 every year. One million incoming high school students will be old enough to vote in November. Right now, they are on track to be left out. If we want to change the numbers, we have to change the story.