New Data Show Early Youth Vote Spiking in Battleground States

Early voting among those 29 and under has surged in battleground states like Florida, North Carolina, and Virginia, according to a new report from Tufts University. Researchers from Tufts University compared the number of votes cast in person and by mail by October 21, 2020 with the tallies from the same date in 2016 across 12 states. They found that in every one, the number of youth votes had skyrocketed. More than 250,000 people ages 18 to 29 have already voted in Florida, compared to just 44,000 who had done so by the same point in 2016. In North Carolina, roughly 204,000 young people have cast their votes for the upcoming election, whereas just 25,000 had by this time in 2016. Texas has also seen a massive wave of youth voting — more than 490,000 votes from just 23 counties — though researchers did not include a point of comparison for 2016. The data suggest that the youth vote in swing states could determine the outcome of the November election. The researchers wrote, “In Florida, North Carolina, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, early votes cast by youth have already exceeded the 2016 margin of victory in each state.” More than 3 million young people have voted early across the United States, according to the report.