Last week, the Maryland General Assembly passed a bill to allow 16-year olds to preregister to vote. If signed by the governor, Maryland will join Florida, Hawaii, North Carolina, and Rhode Island in enacting this important reform.
Engaging young citizens in the democratic process is an issue that lawmakers and voting rights advocates have long attempted to address. But with most youth voter engagement efforts primarily targeting college-attending youth (who make up less than half of the population of 18-24 year olds and are more likely to register and vote), the problem of underrepresented youth is likely to remain unsolved.
As voter education and access to voter registration seem to go hand-in-hand with greater voter participation rates, more lawmakers and advocates are siding with a simple solution for youth voter engagement: preregistration. However, as the state legislatures demonstrate this year, support for this reform could not happen fast enough.
Last week, the Arizona Legislature introduced a Preregistration bill in the House, bringing it one step closer to allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to preregister to vote. If passed, Arizona would join Florida, Hawaii, North Carolina, and soon, Rhode Island in their efforts to engage youth before they may legally vote.
Today, only three states have enacted laws that voting rights groups argue foster lifelong civic engagement among the nation's historically underrepresented group: Youth. These policies - implemented in Hawaii, Florida, and most recently, North Carolina - provide an opportunity for 16 and 17-year-olds to preregister to vote. However, merely providing preregistration opportunities is not enough to instill democratic participation in new voters. Such policies could be more effective when accompanied with education on how to be enfranchised, Florida policymakers say, and they hope to make the state a flagship for improved, youth-oriented election reform in 2010.
The future of voter registration and civic engagement may just stand a chance. California (a populous state of many voters-to-be) will soon allow all 17-year-old citizens to preregister to vote so that they will be automatically enrolled as legal voters once they turn 18. This newer trend in legislation, which boasts bipartisan support, has recently passed in North Carolina and has been successfully implemented in five other states, including Florida.
After the 2008 election, voter registration has become a focal point for legislators and advocates from all ends of the spectrum. Whichever way it is sliced, the number of registered eligible voters has still declined since 2004. As multiple problems have been cited as the cause for lowered registration rates (including mobility issues, unequal access to registration opportunities, voter caging, and even so-called apathy), voting rights advocates as well as legislators have been vocal about their solutions.
The California Legislature approved a bill last week to extend voter registration privileges to 17-year-old citizens. If signed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, the bill would help put California youth on the road to a lifetime of democratic participation.
As we celebrate America's independence and the birth of its democracy this weekend, some states are moving toward enfranchising its future voters. A growing legislative trend following the jump in youth voter participation in the 2008 presidential election, preregistration allows soon-to-be voters to take full advantage of registration opportunities when they get their driver's licenses, fosters civic engagement in the classroom, and catalyzes lifelong participation in democracy.
The rising levels of voter participation among the nation's youth continue to be challenged by the current voter registration system, perpetuating the difficulty of fostering lifelong voters. Some states are proposing to take this challenge into their own hands by making voter registration accessible to citizens as young as 16. Already widely accessible at schools and departments of motor vehicles, the move would allow future voters in some states to automatically be enrolled on the voter rolls on their 18th birthdays, a change that advocates say could "close the registry gap between young voters and the rest of the population."
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