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More Young Voters Turned Out In 2020—Will They Vote Again In 2021?
By
Brigid Bergin
Published Apr 29, 2021
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By
Brigid Bergin
Published Apr 29, 2021
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Siara Chowdhury is a youth ambassador for the New York City Campaign Finance Board.
Courtesy of Siara Chowdhury
In New York City, where more than 3 million people went to the polls last year, voters under 30 comprised the largest uptick in turnout of any age group, according to a new report to be released Friday from the New York City Campaign Finance Board.
Despite all the challenges posed by the pandemic, the youngest city voters turned out at a higher rate in the 2020 general election than they have in nearly a decade, a promising direction for those looking to get more New Yorkers voting, of all ages.
More than 59.3% of registered voters aged 18-29 participated in the 2020 general election, an increase of 3.4% compared to 2016, and 4.2% more than 2012.
Now, local voting rights advocates said they’re trying to seize on that momentum by keeping those young voters engaged and coming back to the polls in the upcoming New York City elections, with the more lofty goal of reshaping the city’s electorate for years to come.
“Right at the core of our mission is converting voters, particularly young voters, from the infrequent, presidential year into being frequent, consistent lifelong voters, including at the local level,” said Omar Suarez, director of partnerships and outreach for the New York City Campaign Finance Board. The way he sees the uptick: “it’s an opportunity to get more people into this lane of being consistent, habitual voters.”
Suarez leads voter education and engagement efforts across more than 100 community-based organizations all of which are working in their local communities to drive up turnout.
The CFB aims to double youth voter turnout in this year’s citywide elections, taking it from 13.5% in 2017 to 25% in 2021. The increase was based on research from the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) at Tufts University which found a rise in youth-voter turnout across the country in the 2020 election, and provided a curriculum for continuing to drive up participation rates through civic engagement at an early age.
While those numbers may sound low, data from the New York City Board of Elections shows overall voter participation rates usually plummet between presidential and local election years, with turnout steadily declining since 1988.
The biggest drop was four years ago when there was 62% turnout for the 2016 presidential election and only 26% for the 2017 mayoral election.
Given that trend, reaching 25% youth voter turnout may actually be a stretch.
“Hope springs eternal,” said Jerry Skurnik, a veteran political consultant whose firm, Prime NY, analyzes voter-turnout data, particularly among primary voters. In terms of youth voters, “once and a while you can get them to turn out,” he said, citing the high rate of youth support for President Barack Obama in 2008.
Skurnick said his analysis of voter turnout during last year’s primary did suggest a promising trend for anyone interested in expanding the city’s electorate.
Listen to Brigid Bergin's report on WNYC:
Of those voters who cast ballots in the June 2020 primary, he said about a quarter of the voters were people who had not turned out in primaries in the 2018 or 2016 cycles. Now that they’ve become part active voters, that means campaigns will also be reaching out to these first time primary voters, some of whom will also be youth voters, trying to win their support and turn out their vote.
While that strategy may serve the interest of a specific candidate, efforts to engage young people civically from an early age can yield long-term benefits to an entire community.
“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.
That’s the part of the goal of another CFB program which trains people ages 14-21 to be youth ambassadors who use social media and community outreach to educate people about voting.
The current class includes 16 students that attend or graduated from the city’s public schools, many of whom also speak a second language besides English including Spanish, Cantonese, Bengali, Arabic, Russian, and American Sign Language.
Siara Chowdhury, 16, a junior at Manhattan Village Academy, said was inspired by her parents’ experience before they emigrated from Bangladesh to their home in the Bronx. She said they left their country in part because they were not able to freely exercise their rights. After becoming citizens in the United States, she said they never miss an election.
Chowdury said she knows that people care a lot about presidential contests, but she wants her neighbors, her friends, her classmates, and her community to care just as much about local races, too.
“We are the next generation that will have to run this city,” said Chowdhury. “It is time we have a voice in it.”
Tagged
election 2021
Brigid Bergin
Brigid Bergin is an award-winning senior reporter on the People and Power desk. She is fiercely committed to telling stories that help people engage and support democracy. In 2022, she hosted a live, ten-week call-in politics show ahead of the midterm elections called The People's Guide to Power. Brigid's reporting in 2017 included some of the first coverage of a political newcomer now known as AOC. In 2016, she broke the news of a voter purge in Brooklyn just days before New York’s presidential primary, triggering city, state and federal investigations. Brigid also guest hosts The Brian Lehrer Show and All Of It. She graduated from the University at Albany and the CUNY Newmark School of Journalism. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal 917-723-4719.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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