The LA Youth Vote and the Activation of a Young and Diverse Electorate

By Veronica Terriquez (UC Santa Cruz) and Steven Carmona Mora (The Movement Cooperative; UCSC Sociology Graduate ’17) 

September 2020

In Los Angeles County, 80% of eligible voters aged 18-24 are young people of color. The LA Youth Vote targeted this diverse population with the goal of fostering a more representative young electorate. This report offers a description and analysis of a collaborative effort to enhance racially diverse young citizens’ engagement in the democratic process.

Report Highlights: 

• Collaborations among grassroots community groups, school districts, county registrar, and philanthropy can bolster non-partisan efforts to register, educate, and mobilize young voters. 
• Non-partisan voter education that highlights the age gap in voting, exposes young people to the history of voting rights, and imparts the importance of voting at the local level can foster young people’s investment in the voting process. 
• With proper training and support, adolescents and young adults can be at the forefront of registering, educating, and activating young voters. 
• Peer-to-peer voter mobilizations involving phone banking and social media outreach can increase turnout among young voters. 
• Ongoing, coordinated, and non-partisan efforts to register and educate young voters are necessary, given that most young eligible voters do not turn out to vote, and many remain unregistered. 

This research was generously funded by the James Irvine Foundation. It is published by the Institute for Social Transformation at the University of California, Santa Cruz and the Equity Research Institute at the University of Southern California.

Media Mentions

To beat Trump, Democrats must mobilize young people (The Hill – 9/19/2020)

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Orange County’s Diverse Young Voters Exercise their Voice at the Ballot Box (Oct 2020) Veronica Terriquez, Jody Agius Vallejo, and Jiayi Xu