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.

Something big happened for American democracy last week. The U.S. Department of Education issued guidance to high schools to promote voter registration. The Promotion of Voter Participation for Students toolkit has the power to help millions of young Americans register to vote.

A shocking 1.25 million eligible teens – more than 80% in CA & NY – have not yet preregistered to vote, which suggest virtually no concerted effort to implement high school voter registration in the states’ most populous regions.

There has been a 35% increase in 18-year-old voter registration in Ohio since last August (approximately 3,000 additional registrations per month). But more than 100,000 18-year-olds remain unregistered to vote in January 2024.

The Civics Center and Open Democracy’s joint effort contributed to a 7.4pp increase in VR rates for 18-year-olds.

‘A Silenced Generation: How the Power of the Youth Vote Collides with Barriers to Voting’ explains how states can support young voters and strengthen turnout.

In Pennsylvania, more than 70,000 young people turn 18 every year in the state’s most populous regions, yet less than 19,000 18-year-olds in these areas are currently registered to vote.

The problem is not voter apathy, but the lack of investment in welcoming young people into our democracy, helping them register, teaching them how public issues connect with their lives, and showing why their votes matter.

Colorado’s voter preregistration rate is the highest of any we have seen across the country. As of September 12, 2023, it nearly triple the rates in California and New York.

California’s law allowing young people to preregister to vote as soon as they turn 16 has been in effect since 2016, and eight years in, only 12.9% of the state’s 16- to 17-year-olds are preregistered to vote.