Young Voters Likely to Continue Post-Parkland Mobilization in Voting Booth, Registration Records Show

According to voter registration records in states that will be closely watched in the November midterm elections, young Americans are planning to exercise their right to vote in greater numbers than usual.

“We know that young people don’t vote as often as they should,” Aleigha Cavalier of billionaire Democratic donor Tom Steyer’s voter mobilization group, NextGen America, told the New York Times. “This year we are seeing energy because they have a feeling of voting for or voting against, whether it’s Donald Trump or issues that they care about, and on issues like gun safety, because we are seeing things happen in real time, like Parkland, that weren’t happening before.”

Following the February 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., records of young people who signed up to vote in March and April rose significantly in states including Florida, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.

The surge took place as survivors of the shooting were organizing a nationwide movement to demand sensible gun control reforms that have failed to pass in Congress in recent years despite widespread public support—and threatening to vote lawmakers out of office if they accept money from the powerful pro-gun lobbying group, the National Rifle Association (NRA).

In Florida, voters under the age of 26 made up nearly 30 percent of new registrants in March and April, up from less than 20 percent in the first two months of the year. About 40 percent of new voters in North Carolina were under 25 in the weeks following the Parkland shooting, and in Pennsylvania more than half of those who registered were young voters.

According to the Times, in Florida, a third of the new registrants signed up as Democrats, 21 percent as Republicans, and 46 percent as unaffiliated or with another party.

Click Here: COLLINGWOOD MAGPIES 2019

SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT