How Minnesota Increased Youth Voter Registration: An Interview with Michael Wall
Minnesota has seen the greatest increase in voter registration rates for 18-year-olds that we’ve ever seen — a full 58 percentage points since 2022. Here, Michael Wall, Youth Voter Outreach Specialist with the Minnesota Secretary of State, shares how they did it and what other states can learn from their approach.
The work of welcoming young people into democracy as new voters requires creativity and coordination. Election officials, educators, community leaders, parents, and teens all play a role. Who & How is our effort to highlight those who have made exceptional strides and to shine a light on how they’ve done it. Our hope is to inspire others and to foster learning opportunities that can lift the field as a whole.
This month’s interview is with Michael Wall, the Youth Voter Outreach Specialist at the Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State. Minnesota has seen the greatest increase in voter registration rates for 18-year-olds that we’ve ever seen – a full 58 percentage points since 2022. We wanted to get Michael’s take on how they did it in Minnesota and how other states can do it, too.
Thanks for joining us. Can you start by telling us about your role as the Youth Voter Outreach Specialist with the Minnesota Secretary of State:
Michael: Thanks, Laura. My role has a two-part history. I was hired in 2016 as an Outreach contractor to fulfill the Secretary of State’s vision of a statewide high school mock election and a college and university voter registration contest. That position was just for the election, and I came back in 2018, and they kept me on doing those and other Outreach work until they couldn’t extend the contract any more. While I was away, their third attempt to create the Youth Voter Outreach Specialist position was approved by our legislature and I was hired back in this permanent position. Now, except for ‘other duties as assigned’ I work exclusively with 18-29 year-olds, with colleges and universities supporting campus outreach work, with high schools supporting voter education and Minnesota’s opportunities for 16 and 17-year-olds to pre-register and be student election judges. Our statewide mock election (now K-12) and our Youth Day at the Capitol gives me the chance to work with middle and elementary schools, too.
What drew you to this work?
Michael: I’d love to say passion and a sense of duty, but what made me apply most of all was opportunity.I was part of a long string of layoffs at a community college that took our advancement department from 7 FTE to 1.5 over the course of four years. The posting was like it was made for me. They were looking for someone with a background in both education (I taught middle and high school in two states) and relationship development (what I shared about advancement, which is all relationships). Once I got into the work, every day was a I-Can’t-Believe-I-Get-Paid-for-This experience. I was a Poli Sci undergrad, got my Master’s in Secondary Education, and I know way too many quotes from the West Wing. I had a desk with a view of the Capitol and I got to educate young people on why their voice matters and how to use it! I was hooked.
Like I said at the top, Minnesota has made incredible progress in getting 18-year-olds registered to vote: 58 percentage points in just 4 years. What laws changed in the state to facilitate that dramatic rise?
Michael: How much time do we have? In 2023 (and a bit in 2024) the legislature passed 1) laws that established a series of requirements for college and university outreach work, mandatory on-campus temporary early voting sites for some of the colleges, if the students or administration ask for it, pre-registration for 16 and 17-year-olds, and recently made the absentee witness requirement a citizen 18 or older instead of a registered Minnesota voter. Imagine you are going to college out of state and you will understand why that was a great change. Add to that how youth-engaged my boss is (he’s visited somewhere around 100 high schools across the state in the last two years, he speaks at the annual NVRD in Minnesota High Schools events each year, at our youth voter summit, meets with high school pages every week…) and we set ourselves up for success.
Michael Wall with high school students at a recent planning meeting for Minnesota’s annual Youth Day at the Capitol
We often see that laws that look good on the books don’t actually get implemented effectively. What steps did Minnesota, and especially your office, take to bring these laws to life?
Michael: You are talking to the first step right now. Having someone in the office whose job is to support Campus Vote Coordinators (one of those statutory requirements at colleges and universities) and to reach out to high schools to remind them of their requirements, like making registration forms available, and promoting civic engagement and elections education programs- all of that is so valuable to instilling a voting culture in young people. We also support student and other youth efforts directly and that helps all those laws work as well. Plus, there are so many community groups (particular shout outs to the League of Women local voter chapters and state League) who see the importance of reaching, teaching, and preaching engagement to young people. We are a state of both good laws and good pro-voting culture.
Many people are looking for models for how community groups can work effectively with government offices. What’s been especially effective for you?
Michael: Great question. I practice what I preach. I work hard to create relationships with our community partners–- both established and potential–-listening to their goals, looking for overlap and natural opportunities for partnership, supporting their work and not just pushing my goals, and being sincerely and effusively thankful for the work they do. And not coincidentally, it’s the same advice I give these groups of working with schools, youth-run nonprofits, and individual students. Also, providing resources, both what we want people to have and creating when we can exactly what they want is very important. I tell groups all the time to ask me if we have what they are looking for, and if we don’t we will try to produce something that meets their needs. We don’t have cash or funding to offer, so service and resources must fill a part of that gap and make their job easier.
What advice would you give to others seeking to improve their rates?
Michael: We had the highest youth voter turnout in the nation in 2024, and missed number one by two points in 2020. We are proud of that and we plan to keep the crown in 2028. My eyes are on the midterms. Even in our best year of the last three midterms we were under 50%, and we went down from 2018 to 2022. You asked for advice. 1) Speak about youth voting, sure, but speak TO young voters, and encourage young people to speak to each other about voting, no matter what they believe about it. I have a list of reasons that young people report that they don’t vote and our responses to every one. I distribute it, I encourage it’s use, but I also discuss it with young people. Do they believe these excuses? If so, what do they say in response to our counter arguments? Get them thinking about why they choose what they choose. Plant the seeds that will inform their choices every time an election comes around.
Teachers are often unacknowledged heroes who help transform their students’ lives, and their work in modeling healthy dialogue and the capacity for individual growth is critical to the flourishing of a democratic society. Tell us about an educator who said or did something that changed your life.
Michael: That’s easy. My 8th grade science teacher, Mr. (Richard J.) DeBettencourt. It’s a longer story, but he challenged me to take a particular risk, way outside my comfort zone, and it changed my life. What’s funny is that to outsiders, the thing I did wouldn’t register as special or transformative because it’s not special or unusual. The way he did it, though, was to tell me what he saw in me, what my potential was, and how who I was would make me successful. He saw me. That was the first time I can recall that, and I never forgot it. (Coincidentally, my father shared how he saw me when I was 16, unsolicited, and it changed how I saw myself and how I saw him as a father. It’s an incredibly powerful gift.)
Bonus question: We like to offer people the opportunity to share something beyond work or family that they love. Feel free to answer one or both of the following:
Michael: My love languages (I’m bilingual in this regard) are cooking for the people I care about, and volunteering. To me they both use a personal perspective. You cook to please their palette, but you use your style to make it personal for them. You volunteer to answer a need, but you choose the opportunities that speak to where you can make the most difference and be happy doing it. I also give platelets almost every week. It’s incredibly satisfying.