Approximately 4 million Americans turn 18 each year. Some of these newest eligible voters have been counting down the days to cast their first ballot, while others may not know where to begin the registration process.
A recent report from the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University found that the percentage of young people registered to vote nationally has increased slightly since the 2022 midterms. But Texas is going in the opposite direction. The report found a 47% drop in the number of 18-year-olds registered to vote compared with 2022.
An analysis by The Civics Center found that just 27% of 18-year-olds are registered to vote in Dallas County, compared to the national average of around 45%.
Local organizations are doing good work to help high school students register, but Texas should make the process easier for eligible voters by expanding online registration and fixing gaps in the current system to make sure applications are processed.
In Texas, you can only register to vote online when renewing or updating a driver’s license. And that process is flawed. This week, local elections officials in Dallas and Collin counties said they are working to process 100,000 backlogged voter registration files submitted through the online license portal that were never sent to the counties.
Most Texans must register to vote in person, pick up an application at a library or high school or print a form online and mail it to their county elections office.
Most teenagers aren’t inclined to waltz over to the county office, and even printing a form and mailing it is a foreign concept for teens who do almost everything online. The timing also works against many teenagers. Texans can’t register to vote until two months before their 18th birthday. Allowing online registration could make this process easier.
There’s a state law that requires public and private schools to provide age-eligible students the opportunity to register to vote by providing applications twice a year, but schools comply in different ways, and there’s no real enforcement of the law. Some schools hand out voter registration forms at graduation, others pass off the responsibility to a teacher or rely on outside groups to provide voting information to students.
Jess Lugo, executive director of March to the Polls, a civics education group that registers students to vote in Dallas and Tarrant counties, told us that last year the group registered 4,177 students across 10 school districts.
But getting students registered is only the first step. Lugo said many first-time voters don’t know where to go to vote, what identification they need or what to expect when they arrive at the polls.
Texas should make voting easier for all eligible voters by allowing online registration. It should also ensure there is information outlining the voting process available for all voters.
The deadline to register for the November election is Oct. 5. Eligible Texans should check their registration status now, and anyone who isn’t registered — including teenagers who will turn 18 by Election Day — should make a plan before the deadline.