by Ella Syverson
I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard people, people who I generally view to be on my side politically, that my generation doesn’t vote. It’s an idea that’s used dismissively, to indicate that youth opinions are less important because we are viewed as not caring. Because youth make up a minority of voters, politicians are less likely to listen to the concerns of their youth constituents. This burden, the burden of increasing youth voter turnout, is placed again and again on the shoulders of politically active youth, and the solution is often viewed as being to generate enthusiasm and spread information about voter registration, etc. While yes, these things are useful, and yes, some youth are apathetic or disenchanted with electoralism (and understandably so,) this narrative is missing the bigger picture. Low youth voter turnout should be seen in the context of broader voter suppression, in a country where only about half of the population typically votes. The problem is systemic, and so are the solutions.
First, let's look at the numbers. In this piece, I’m looking only at US elections and politics. According to the book Making Young Voters, “In 2016, 90% of young Americans reported an interest in politics. 80% intended to vote. Yet only 43% of people between the ages of 18 and 29 ended up actually casting a ballot.” Comparatively, the highest level of voter participation goes to voters over 60, at about 70%. The level of youth voter turnout in the US is one of the lowest in the world, but the fact that so many young people are interested in politics and intended to vote in 2016 indicates that apathy and disinterest are far from the major factors in low turnout.
The United States has a long history of voter suppression, beginning with a systematic effort to disenfranchise Black people after the 15th amendment was ratified. Tactics including poll taxes, literacy tests, and violence and intimidation at polling places were employed to keep Black Americans from casting a ballot. Today, the conversation has been reformed, framing voter suppression laws as a necessary defense against voter fraud. In fact, fraudulent voting is exceedingly rare (0.00006% of all ballots cast, according to the Hill.) In contrast, millions of Americans are impacted by laws put in place making it more difficult to vote. These laws typically aim to implement restrictive voter ID requirements, purge voter rolls, disenfranchise people with felony convictions, or restrict voter registration, early voting, or vote by mail. These restrictions disproportionately impact poor people and people of color. All that to say that this country hasn’t made it easy to vote, and youth are no exception.
Many youth voters are students. They may live in another state for college, and then have to make a choice between navigating vote by mail in their home state, or figuring out how to get registered in a new state, which can be really confusing and require different documents, new proof of residency, etc. Residency requirements can also be a barrier for homeless youth. Many youth also spend a significant portion of their time either in school or working jobs that are often low wage or not during regular business hours, meaning they might not be allowed time off to vote. Transportation can also be an issue. On top of that, with extensive laws that vary from state to state and a slew of dates and deadlines to remember, our election system is unreasonably complicated and takes time to learn. Many of the problems faced by youth voters are the same as those faced by older voters, and increasing ease of access to voting across the board would certainly increase voter turnout.
Automatic voter registration is one solution that could make a key difference, as voter registration is often a barrier to voting. Striking down voter ID requirements at the polls would be helpful, as 21 million Americans don’t have a government issued ID card. Making election day a national holiday, or even implementing mandatory voting, would certainly increase turnout. Lowering the voting age to 16 would allow young people to begin the habit of voting at a less transitional phase and perhaps make them more likely to stick with it, while also allowing parents to guide their kids through the election process for longer. These are the things that need to happen to increase voter turnout. Next time someone casually comments about how my generation doesn't vote, or tells me that we just have to get young people to care about politics, these are the causes I expect them to support.
That said, while I definitely don’t think attempting to simply increase youth voter enthusiasm is the solution, it certainly doesn’t hurt. I believe the thing that would enthuse youth voters is to really see ourselves and our interests reflected in politics. I want to see the politicians I vote for truly caring about the things that will affect my life. I want them to work to earn my vote. I don’t just want to see them advertise on Instagram, but to come up with meaningful plans to address the climate crisis. I also want to actually see youth in political positions of power. It would be entirely understandable for any young person to look at the age demographics of their elected officials and make the assumption that politics isn’t for us. The average age of US Congresspeople is 58 in the House and 62 in the Senate. It’s important that youth see ourselves as being valued in the political system, as politicians with valuable ideas and as constituents with valuable votes. I am a member of my city’s Planning Commission and a panelist on my county’s Teen Court. I believe that the most important things I do in both of those positions is show, both to older folks and younger folks, that youth have a place in our government.
In summary, youth do care. We care about politics, we care about issues, we care about voting. It’s on all of us, young and old, to push for the systemic changes that will make voting accessible for everyone.
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