Voter Fatigue and Energizing Youth Constituents
Article by Computer Curry, TPT Staff Writer
It's often said that young people are the future, that a country’s youth are vehicles for change, and that the youth always present the world with a new chance at positive change and development. It's also common to hear that the most important avenue for making these positive changes is voting, and yet, the data is clear: young Americans do not vote. According to research by the Census Bureau, in 2018, voter turnout among those ages 18-29 was a measly 36%. In 2022, younger voters made up a smaller proportion of the electorate than in 2018. And so, an important question is raised to anyone interested in advocating for political action: how can we get young people more involved in our political processes?
I believe that the first step is in our learning system at school: education. According to a study by the AFT, only 9 states and DC require a year of government or civics in high school, only 3 states require passing a civics course, and these courses do not actually teach enough skills necessary to be personally engaged in politics. Schools, especially high schools, need to place much more of an emphasis on civic education, as an educated populace is associated with higher voter turnout; according to research by the PRB, 73% of people with a college degree cast a ballot, while 45% of those who dropped out of high school did. And so, we can infer that if everyone learned more about civics and how to be politically active in high school, people would know more about their rights, be more willing to exercise those rights, and thus be more willing to vote and be more knowledgeable about the voting process.
The second step, after teaching people about how our political system works, is making it easier for people to vote. According to Reuters, since 2020, over 30 voting restriction laws have been passed in multiple states, making it that much more difficult for anyone, including young people, to participate in our political process. This is especially distressing because this also makes it harder to vote by mail, ostracizing even further those who are not close enough or are able to travel to a polling location, such as the physically disabled; about 1.95 million people with disabilities experienced trouble voting in 2020.
Several proposals have been made to make voting more accessible, including increased funding for election administration, repealing anti-voting laws, automatic voter registration, longer polling hours, and more polling locations. These all seem to be effective ideas for increasing voter turnout, but more research is needed.
According to a poll by FiveThirtyEight, those between 18 and 34 are less likely to believe in our political systems. This can be attributed to a number of factors, such as the fact that young people are more likely than other age groups to experience voting barriers such as work, deadlines, and not receiving absentee ballots in a timely fashion. If laws were passed requiring amnesty for employee lateness on election days, people would be much more willing to engage in the political process and make their voices heard.
It is clear that young people can get more involved in politics if our education system becomes more inclusive of stronger civic education and political participation, and if barriers to voting are addressed and remedied so that people are less afraid to vote without fear of getting fired or spending too much time finding a polling station.