About Our Data Visualizations

Our data story and our data goals

One of the greatest challenges our democracy faces is the gap in voter registration rates between young voters and older Americans. It has amounted to disenfranchisement of young voters by the millions, cycle after cycle, decade after decade, all across America.

We call this The Voter Registration Gap.

Until now, this problem has remained largely unreported and hidden from view. The purpose of this data portal is to change that and to give you the tools to take action in your community.

Our founder, Laura Brill, created a novel method for estimating voter registration rates of 18-year-olds and other age-defined populations at the most local level available, school districts, cities, counties. With a team of experts, we developed this portal to show you the numbers, highlight the disparities, point out opportunities, enable you to take action to make change in your community, and to track changes over time. 

Today, a growing body of research suggests that many young people have lost faith in democracy. But, for all of the flaws in US democracy today and the erosion of institutions that support it, the promise of democracy is that it has the ability to self-correct. 

The data pose urgent questions for everyone who cares about democracy, about young people, and about the United States: How do we build systems, practice, and leadership to make our democracy stronger?

How do we welcome and engage the youngest voters as soon as they are old enough, ensure they will have an equal voice, and recognize that “We the People,” belongs to them? 

Today, the voter registration gap is enormous, but it does not have to be this way; young people have the power to work together and close the gap in their communities. The rest of us have the power to show them the way.

Look around. Take action. Tell us what you think.