One of the enduring challenges for America’s election departments is to somehow persuade our younger citizens — described collectively as the Millennials — to register and vote.  

New crosstabs from the 2008 General Election show that, despite all the ho-ha about the Obama campaign jazzing younger voters, in Washington state, the turnout among 18 to 24 year olds was nothing to write home about. 

We previously noted that the August primary turnout among these young voters was a puny 18 percent, the weakest age segment by far. (By contrast, their elders, voters 65 and older, posted a robust 72 percent turnout in the primary.)  Some analysts were hoping that the huge interest in the presidential campaign would fire up lots of Millennials. It did, but their 68 percent was once again the poorest sector of the voting public. And a remarkable 91 percent of those faithful older folks, those 55 to infinity, voted. 

State Elections Director Nick Handy says youth voters who were energized by the … presidential race were REALLY energized, but that many of the disengaged voters stayed disengaged.  He says outreach efforts will continue, particularly in the context of civic engagement and volunteerism.

Elections experts theorize that teens and 20-somethings and even folks into their 30s don’t get hooked on voting because they don’t yet see the relevance to their daily lives. This theory says that once people start buying homes, raising families, sending kids to school and paying taxes, they begin paying closer attention to government decisions and the politicians and propositions that, yes, affect their daily lives.

The latest turnout numbers, showing both the primary and the general, show a direct correlation between age and voting.  

	Turnout*
Age Bracket	in Top 2 Primary, Aug 19, 2008	in General Election, Nov 4, 2008
18-24	18%	68%
25-34	19%	74%
35-44	27%	82%
45-54	41%	87%
55-64	58%	91%
65 & older	72%	91%
*Percentage of active registered voters who were credited with voting.

If you have any ideas for boosting turnout among younger voters, we’d love to hear via the comment feature!