Voting Barriers for Young Adults

In recent years, specifically from the presidential elections in 2016 to the midterm elections in 2022, there has been an increase in young voter participation in  
America. Young voter participation has been typically lower when compared to the rest of the general population in America. While there have been noticeable fluctuations in the 21st century, the most recent trend showed a nine percent increase from 39.4% of youth voter turnout in 2016 to 48% in the 2020 presidential election. The current trend is showing progress but there are still several structural and intentional barriers young voters must face each election in order to cast their ballot. The barrier that stands out most is the targeted efforts to disenfranchise and discourage young voters from engaging in the political process. Most of the efforts to disenfranchise young voters are consolidated in residency laws, which affect college students, specifically out-of-state students. Residency laws require students to either return home or, in some states, acquire a new driver's license and establish legal residency in a new state. This puts college students in a difficult position as they must choose between making arrangements to return home or going through the whole registration process in a new state.  
Young people face structural barriers to voting outside of the intentional barriers put in place by politicians. On average, young people often move far more often compared to the general population and this is not strictly indicative of young voters in college. Socioeconomic barriers limit the amount of employment opportunities that young people have. This leads to young people working jobs with less predictable schedules and their schedules can often affect their ability to even find the time to vote. Out of all eligible voters in America approximately 40 million of them are classified as Gen z voters. Those aged 18-29 years old constitute nearly 22% of the total American voting age population but in 2018 they made up only 13% of the electorate. The structural and intentional barriers restrict an enormous faction of our society from participating in the democratic process. The population of young voters are currently the most diverse generation of voters and while there has been an increase in young voter participation in recent years, there are still inconsistencies in how each state hinders or engages young voters in the political process. 
References  
Brill, L. (2024, January 19). A Silenced Generation: How the Power of the Youth Vote Collides With Barriers to Voting . Mapresearch.org. 
Tor, E. (2020, February 20). Why so many young people don’t vote – and how to change that. Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy | University of Virginia. https://batten.virginia.edu/about/news/why-so-many-young-people-dont-vote-and-how-change 
Beadle, K., de Guzman, P., & Medina, A. (2022, March 17). The impact of voting laws on youth turnout and registration. Circle at Tufts. https://circle.tufts.edu/latest-research/impact-voting-laws-youth-turnout-and-registration 
 
 
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