CIRCLE Growing Voters details a framework that activates people well before they turn 18 by addressing inequities in civic education and works to keep ironing out those imbalances through year-round engagement.

A new report from researchers at the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) at Tufts University finds that the problem may not lie with young voters themselves... the civic education and engagement we expect to solve access issues can actually reinforce inequalities and influence who shows up at the polls.

Survey results from the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University confirm the benefits of civic engagement. Specifically, about 70% of student election judges learned “a great deal” about the voting process.

According to CIRCLE’s data analysis, “many young people have not been taught about elections and voting; both the practicalities of registering and casting a ballot and the reasons why their voices and votes matter in democracy."

CIRCLE research shows that Black and Latino young people created more content about the 2020 election and social issues in 2020 than their white and Asian counterparts.

“In places like Pennsylvania and Georgia and Arizona, we see that the strength of support from young people of color, in particular, can be enormously powerful on the state level,” said CIRCLE Deputy Director Abby Kiesa

Youth voter participation is generally trending upward, with 50% of young people ages 18-29 voting in the 2020 presidential election. That was likely one of the highest rates of youth electoral participation since the voting age was lowered to 18," according to CIRCLE.

In the 2018 midterms, 28.2 percent of Americans under 30 voted, according to a CIRCLE analysis. Democrats made broad gains in the House and in governor’s races that fall.

Young people’s confidence in our system of government and the future of our country is already a major concern. We see this moment as a call to action for state and local policymakers, election officials, organizations and campaigns.

The YESI is a valuable tool for stakeholders trying to engage youth in democracy, from Senate campaigns, to major nonpartisan voter engagement organizations, to student groups on college campuses.

"We have seen two important election cycles in a row where young people have been leading," says Abby Kiesa, CIRCLE's deputy director.

In the 2020 presidential election, about half of Americans between the ages 18 and 29 voted, according to the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University.