Essay On Youth Voting Rates

As a child you cannot wait to vote when you are older, but if that’s what we think when we are young, why do we chose not to vote when we are old enough? The amount of youth voters has been decreasing for the past 45 years. Although there is a smaller turnout of young voters, college students face many challenges when it comes to voting. Youth voting turnout rates can be increased by educational incentives and loosened laws.
Ever since 1971, youth voting rates have been decreasing. It is a major issue in today’s society that draws very little notice. According to Peter and Mark, “the proportion of the electorate that was between the ages of 18 and 25 fell from 14.2% in 1972 to 7.8% in 2000” (Levine and Lopez 2002). That is a 6.4% decrease …show more content…
According to Eisner, a poll was conducted by Harvard University and “of those who indicated that they planned to vote in the 2004 presidential election, more than one-quarter 26 percent-said they don’t know or ‘aren’t sure’ where their polling place is or how to vote by absentee ballot” (Eisner 2004). The government can have information sessions for new voters to teach then about the voting process. This would increase the number of young people voting because they will feel more confident in the process. Another solution to raising youth voting right the government could loosen the absentee voting requirements. Eisner stated, “the system as it now stands does not fit into the rhythms of their lives and that if we want them to vote, it would not take much to bend the system” (Eisner 2004). The system currently has strict rules and if they were bent more young people especially college students could vote. The laws in some states require you to vote the first time in person. That’s a problem for out of state college students who cannot make it back to their home state to vote. The law needs to allow anyone even new voters to vote