By Dan Diorio

The Bernie Sanders campaign has credited younger voters as a key to the 74-year-old Vermont senator’s success in the Democratic primary race to date. But as the campaign has seen, sometimes young voters still just don’t turn out to vote, no matter how motivated they may be.

On the Republican side, youth have been breaking their own turnout records in each state so far, according to Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg of Tufts University. As millennials and those under 30 are becoming an increasingly vital voting block, what can states do to get more young people engaged in the process?

The March issue of NCSL’s elections newsletter, The Canvass looks at a few ways states are using to engage young voters including preregistration, letting 17-year-olds vote in primaries, and extending full voting rights to 16- and 17-year olds in local elections. There’s no easy answer here, and scant data to show that they work, but maybe, just maybe, some of these options can inspire the next generation of Americans to take an active interest in their electoral system and not just in presidential election years.

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Dan Diorio is a policy specialist in NCSL's Elections Program.

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