"This is one of things that I think is really important for us to think about on this 26th amendment anniversary. It's amazing that young people are taking leadership and involving other young folks in issues that are critical to our nation," shared our Deputy Director Abby Kiesa.

Further increases may be in store for future elections, says CIRCLE Deputy Director Abby Kiesa. The 2020 increase was particularly outsized among 18- and 19-year-olds, suggesting they and the sub-18 voters who will come of age in 2022 and 2024 may bring a fresh surge in numbers centered on ever-younger voters.

In Massachusetts, the turnout among registered voters between 18 to 24 had shot up to 20.9 percent in the 2020 primary from 6.7 percent in 2018, and 2.1 percent in 2016, according to Tufts’ Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.

Roughly 50%, according to the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) at Tufts University, a jump of 11 percentage points from 2016 and likely the highest youth voter turnout since the voting age was lowered to 18.

States that mailed ballots to every voter in the pandemic also saw not only higher overall turnout rates, but especially higher youth turnout rates.

Half of Americans ages 18 to 29 cast a ballot in the 2020 general election, an 11-percentage-point increase from 2016, when 39 percent did, according to a new analysis of youth voter turnout from the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University.

“The earlier that a young person is engaged in civic life in some way, the more likely that they are to engage in the long term,” said Abby Kiesa, deputy director of CIRCLE.

A 2016 research study by the Tufts University’s Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning found that 20 percent of “youth with college experience cited a lack of transportation as a reason for not voting.

In Georgia, youth voters made up 20 percent of all ballots cast in the general election, according to the data from CIRCLE.

"As a country, we can do so much more to support young people to participate in democracy more than we do," said Abby Kiesa, the research center's director of impact.

This was the second election with millennials projected to break turnout records, and the generation that is approximately ages 25 to 40 today is well positioned to have a significant impact on policymaking in the near future and for years to come, said Abby Kiesa, deputy director at CIRCLE.

New data released Tuesday by Tufts University's Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement found that nearly three times as many people ages 18 to 24 said in late 2020 that they have donated to a political campaign or registered others to vote, as compared to 2018.