Despite Challenges, Georgia Youth Can Play a Key Role in 2024 Election

Author: Sam Searles
Contributors: Sarah Burnham, Alberto Medina

Georgia has been a critical battleground state in recent elections, and the presidential race in the state is 7th in CIRCLE's Youth Electoral Significance Index (YESI), which ranks the states and districts where young people can have a major influence on 2024 election results.

A high youth population and a supportive environment for youth, with investments in schools and nonprofits, support and ecosystem of high potential for election participation. But some shifting election policies, and the barriers to vote faced by people of color in this diverse state, means that organizations will have to provide youth with information and support to participate in the election.

Youth in Georgia Have Shaped Recent Election Results

Young people in Georgia have already had extraordinary influence in recent elections. The Georgia presidential race was decided by less than half a percentage point in 2020, when President Biden was the first Democratic presidential candidate to win the state since 1992. According to exit polls, 56% of young voters in Georgia voted for Joe Biden, while 43% voted for Donald Trump.  

Youth also played a major role in that election’s Senate races and subsequent run-offs, which decided control of the U.S. Senate. Black youth were especially influential in those races: according to our analyses of AP VoteCast data, more than 90% of Black youth supported both Senator Ossoff and Senator Warnock.

Large Youth Population and Community Support Create High Potential for Electoral Impact

The Youth Electoral Significance Index (YESI) uses more than a dozen data points to rank states and districts where young people have the highest potential to influence election results—if they’re engaged. It includes demographic indicators, data on past voter participation, and on how well a state’s policies and communities can support young voters.

In Georgia’s case, it’s one of the “youngest” states in the country, with youth ages 18-29 making up 23% of the state’s population. It has had above-average youth voter turnout in the last three elections, including the 2020 presidential race.

Georgia also has the best “Youth Investment Score” of any state in the country. It boasts a high number of local, community, and grassroots organizations, some of which are explicitly focused on engaging young voters, and others on issues that young people deeply care about. 

These organizations, including youth-led, faith-based, and labor support groups, were essential to getting out the vote in Georgia in 2020. CIRCLE research has found that outreach from community groups is especially important for youth of color, who make up a significant proportion of the Georgia youth electorate.

Election Laws and Other Challenges

The work of these organizations, and some Georgia election policies like automatic voter registration, have helped it have a relatively high youth voter registration rate compared to other states. Georgia also allows youth under 18 to serve as poll workers and has state statutes that support voter registration in schools, which can support the work needed to grow voters. The state also allows nearly three weeks for early voting, including the option to vote on Sundays. 

Other policies, or lack thereof, could make it harder for youth to register and vote. The state does not have pre-registration at age 16 or same-day registration: two policies associated with higher youth electoral engagement. The state also has a strict photo ID requirement. That means young people need information and support to learn about registration deadlines and about the type of documentation they need to cast a ballot.

Other recent changes to election laws could make voting in Georgia more difficult for young people this year. The state legislature made significant changes to election law after the last presidential election, including:

• The deadline for requesting an absentee ballot is now 11 days before the election. It used to be the Friday before Election Day.
• Voters are required to show a Georgia driver’s license or state ID number.
• A significant decrease in the number of drop boxes that counties can make available for absentee ballot drop-offs.
• Restrictions on the distribution of food and water to those waiting in line to vote. 

Most recently, the passage of SB 189 defines probable causes for removing voters from the rolls and allows voter challenges to be made up to 45 days before an election. The bill also requires homeless people to use their county voter registration offices as their address, mandates ballot design changes, and stipulates that all advance absentee ballots must be counted within one hour of poll close, a mandate the Georgia ACLU has referred to as “unworkable.”

Youth Need Outreach and Support from Now Until November

These changes to how young people can vote in Georgia highlight the need for campaigns and organizations to reach out to all youth—both newly eligible voters who are learning these processes for the first time, and voters who may face new challenges because things are different than in 2020. Both presidential campaigns are certainly aware of the state’s importance: in August, the Trump and Harris campaigns rallied four days apart in the same Atlanta venue.

There is also likely a lot of work to do to register more young people in Georgia. In September, using voter file data aggregated by Catalist, CIRCLE calculated the number of youth (ages 18-29) registered to vote in each state as of September 1, 2024, and compared it to the number of youth registered on Election Day 2020. Georgia had 10% fewer youth in that age group registered to vote, and 23% fewer 18- and 19-year-olds.

While we would expect to see lower registration counts earlier in the cycle, before more youth register in the months closest to Election Day, this data points to a need for continued outreach and engagement with younger voters in Georgia, especially those who are newly eligible.