NEW DATA: In California, only 12.9% of 16- to 17-year-olds are preregistered to vote

Motor voter isn't getting the job done. Roughly 900,000 youth in the state have not yet taken this important step.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but California’s law allowing young people to preregister to vote as soon as they turn 16 has been in effect since 2016, and eight years in, only 12.9% of the state’s 16- to 17-year-olds are preregistered to vote.

Our Future Voter Scorecard uses preregistration data provided by the California Secretary of State and US Census data to estimate voter preregistration rates for pre-registrants (16- and 17-year-olds) by county. The Scorecard below shows county preregistration rates as of October 2023.

Highlights are as follows: 

• Statewide, only 12.9% of 16- and 17-year-olds are preregistered to vote; roughly 900,000 youth in the state who are old enough, have not yet preregistered. 

• Only two counties had preregistration rates above 20% (Marin and Mono).

• Nine counties have preregistration rates below 10%.

• In the three most populous counties, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Orange the preregistration rates are, respectively, 11.4%, 15%, and 12.7%.

• San Francisco had the greatest percentage point increase (6 percentage points) since the Secretary of State’s last report in February 2023.

• The number of 16- and 17-year-olds statewide who are preregistered has increased by only 516 (less than .4%) since October 2022.

If you believe, as I do, in creating the social fabric in which young people will preregister to vote as soon as they are old enough, here are four actions you can take today.

Run A Drive
If you are a student or educator, sign up to attend a Run A Drive workshop to learn everything they need to know about how to run a high school voter registration drive.  If you know high school students and educators, encourage them to sign up. Here’s a link to our website to get started.

Tell a Friend

Make sure all the teens in your life register or preregister as soon as they are old enough and ask your friends and family to do the same. Here’s a link to our portal to get started. 

Contact Elected Officials

Elected officials must do more to assist schools in getting high school voter registration programs off the ground. You can contact the Secretary of State and Superintendent of Public Instruction at the email addresses listed here. Or contact your local school board members or school district superintendents or school principal. We have templates here a model policy here.

Donate to support our work

We provide free training and resources to students and educators so they can make voter registration part of the life of their schools. Our Educator Forum offers stipends to faculty members to learn the ins and outs of bringing high school voter registration to their schools. Your support keeps us going.

Preregistration was enacted to give young people (who are very busy!) ample time to ensure they can vote as soon as they turn 18. What they don’t have is ample support and availability.

That’s why The Civics Center is working to make voter registration part of every high school in America.