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Younger voters are on pace to make up a greater share of the electorate in key states this year than in 2016, according to Tufts University researchers.
In Texas, for instance, absentee and early votes cast by 18- to 29-year-olds made up 13 percent of all the votes cast, as of last Thursday, compared to 6 percent of the votes four years ago, found the university’s Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.
In North Carolina, younger voters made up 12.6 percent of all votes cast, compared to 6.7 percent in 2016. In Michigan, the share of the youth vote had risen thus far from 2.5 percent to 9.4 percent.
In another sign of what the researchers expect to be a record turnout by younger voters, they said more than seven million young people had already voted. In 13 battleground states, more have voted than at the same point in 2016. In a number of states, the number of votes cast by younger people was approaching the number they cast in the entire 2016 election. Young voters had cast one million votes in Texas as of last Thursday, close to the 1.2 million cast in the 2016 election.
It’s unknown for sure whether more young voters will vote this year than in 2016 or if they are simply voting earlier, CIRCLE director Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg told reporters on Friday. But she said younger people tend to vote late in the election, noting that half of the absentee and early votes they cast in 2016 came in the last six days before the elections. A similar late surge this year would mean a higher turnout than four years ago, she said.
