Young voters aren’t no-shows anymore

Young voters hit the polls in bigger numbers this past election, particularly in Florida’s largest university towns.

Sixty-two percent of registered voters age 18 to 21 cast ballots in Leon County, home of Florida State University, followed by Alachua County, location of University of Florida, according to an analysis of preliminary voting data by the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

Turnout was historic

The college-town turnout in those counties and others was extraordinary for young people, who historically have the lowest turnout rates of all age groups, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In the 2014 midterms, turnout was less than 20 percent nationwide.

Overall, 36 percent of Florida’s newbie electorate voted, compared with 22 percent from the midterm election four years earlier. The results followed the months-long effort to register more young voters in the wake of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas massacre in Parkland that killed 17 people.

After the tragedy, students from Stoneman Douglas and other schools and organizations across the county rallied to register young voters. The goal was to elect leaders who focus on new laws and regulations aimed at reducing gun violence in America.

College towns did best

The new data from the Florida Division of Elections is preliminary, as counties had until Dec. 20 to finish reporting, which will be reflected in a revision later this month, said Sarah Revell, spokeswoman for the agency. In general, the data showed a clear pattern of high turnouts of young voters in counties that are educational centers — Leon and Alachua were higher than the overall state average of 55 percent for all age groups in the preliminary data. (Immediately after the election, the state listed the overall turnout at 62 percent).

Last November was the first time in recent years that early voting was allowed on college campuses. The secretary of state issued a ban on the practice in 2014, but a federal judge last summer ruled the ban unconstitutional.

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Voter turnout of people age 18 to 21 reached 36 percent in November, significantly up from the 22 percent in the 2014 midterm election. In Leon and Alachua counties, homes to Florida State University and University of Florida, young turnout exceeded the statewide average of 55 percent for all age groups.

County	Registered voters	Turnout	Percent turnout
Leon	25,486	15,916	62%
Alachua	19,933	11,844	59%
Seminole	15,710	8,170	52%
Orange	50,372	22,286	44%
St. Johns	10,226	4,426	43%
Dade	75,036	31,868	42%
Duval	32,285	12,713	39%
Brevard	18,964	7,426	39%
Pinellas	27,503	10,746	39%
Hillsborough	53,103	20,580	39%
Sarasota	10,476	4,013	38%
Escambia	10,303	3,918	38%
Volusia	18,384	6,733	37%
Pasco	16,757	5,897	35%
Lee	19,218	6,444	34%
Osceola	13,536	4,478	33%
Marion	10,151	3,315	33%
Broward	55,815	14,838	27%
Polk	21,459	2,740	13%
Palm Beach	41,724	4,060	10%

Source: Sun Sentinel analysis of Florida Division of Elections voter data

Counties listed had at least 10,000 registered young voters. Numbers are preliminary. Final turnout numbers are expected later this month.

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South Florida: Not as good

Broward County, where the Parkland shooting occurred, had about one in four young voters turning out, with Palm at one in 10, according to the preliminary numbers. Miami-Dade did better, at 42 percent. The numbers could change as the numbers are finalized. “We counted ballots all the way up until Dec. 20,” said Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher.

Seminole County ranks third

Justin Teaman, chief deputy of operations in Seminole County, which ranked third behind Leon and Alachua in young voter turnout, said it’s possible that South Florida ranked lower because students here headed north to more popular towns and voted there. The county is home to Seminole State College, which has four campus there. Teaman said his office aggressively registers young voters and encourages them to break the mold of being traditional non-voters.

“That’s part of our presentation when we go to high schools,” Teaman said. “That’s one of the key elements — you guys don’t vote.” In 2017, his office won an international award for its Future Voter Initiative that reaches out to first-time voters. Young voter turnout in Seminole totaled 42 percent last November, compared with 31 percent in 2014.

Breaking it down further

The numbers of undergraduate-age registered voters is a fraction of Florida’s total — just under 700,000 out of the 13 million total. Even if every one of them had showed up at the polls, the statewide turnout would have ticked up only a bit, to 58 percent.

Here are a few other findings:

— While the 36 percent turnout exceeded the 2014 midterms, it didn’t come close to the 57 percent in the 2016 presidential election, when Donald Trump faced off with Hillary Clinton.

— Slightly more than half of those turning out were women, about 40 percent men. But the actual breakdown is unclear, because about one in 10 have a gender listed as “unknown” in the state’s voter rolls.

— Forty-three percent of the voters were registered as Democrats, and 28 percent each for Republicans and No Party Affiliation. The remainder were some other party affiliation.

— Whites made up 47 percent, Hispanics 20 percent, and blacks 18 percent.

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