I mentioned to my grandson that I could help him with his ballot if he doesn’t know the people who are running. I got a nonresponsive answer from him.
We had some important local races so that motivated me to try again. I said, “Bring your ballot over to my house, and let’s look it over together.”
This time he responded that he doesn’t have a ballot because he moved and didn’t re-register, so no ballot arrived in the mail.
U.S. News and World Report says relocating is one of the major reasons that young voters are being overwhelmed two to one by the gray-haired voters like me. 30% of voters aged 18 to 29 turned out to vote in 2022 as opposed to 65% of my age cohort, according to the Brookings Institute.
“When people move, they get kicked out of the registration system and have to re-register. Younger people move much more than older people,” says Stephen Ansolabehere, of Harvard University. “Older people are much more likely than the younger people to be registered and that explains most of the correlation of voting with age.”
In Salt Lake County, people only need to update their address online. It is simple enough but it’s forming a barrier to young voters.
This seems like something that could be changed if we were serious about encouraging young voters to register and vote. Are we serious about that? Can this be fixed somehow or is the problem insurmountable?
Sherri Park, West Jordan
