A Study for Improving Youth Voter Participation

Youth voters between 18 and 29 years of age have consistently had the lowest turnout among all age groups in U.S. presidential elections. While this is well known and studied, there does not appear to be a fundamentally effective solution for this situation. More research is warranted to further understand what it would take to motivate young voters to take civic action. Based on the outcomes of my previous researches studying youth turnout impact on presidential election results and major factors influencing voter participation, this paper examined voting behavior of young adults, using a youth’s viewpoint, and documented the results of the study – a framework for improving youth voting rate, which consists of: engagement strategies focusing specifically on youth and starting to work with them from before the voting age, and actionable steps, grouped into five areas, i.e. early engagement, education, community influence, social media, and technology.