SPOKANE, Wash.- The US Department of Education is informing students of how to register to vote ahead of the 2024 election cycle.
Today the department announced a tool kit which will assist high schools and universities in giving recently eligible voters the information they need to participate in democracy this year.
Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona touted the tool kit as a step toward increasing civic participation.
“I’m proud that the resources we are releasing today will help reduce the barriers and obstacles many students—especially our underserved students—face in participating fully in our democracy,” Cardona said.
According to The Spokesman-Review, about half of young people registered to vote in 2018 did not turn in general election ballots.
For midterm elections, young people vote even less. Under 40% of young people voted in Washington’s 2022 midterms according to Crosscut.
The Department of Education program, which is an answer to a 2021 Biden Administration executive order which encouraged federal agencies to improve voter access, hopes to increase youth voter turnout.
Whether the program will put a dent in the significantly low percentages of young people who vote will remain unclear until after the 2024 election cycle.
