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Youth Movement at the Polls

By Zachary A. Goldfarb and Peter Slevin / Washington Post

Early returns from Tuesday's elections show that young people were particularly inspired to cast ballots, a result that drew cheers from voter activists.

Two million more people under the age of 30 voted in the midterm elections than in 2002, according to an analysis by the University of Maryland's Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.

Twenty-four percent of those 18 to 29 who were eligible voted, the center concluded, up from 20 percent in 2002. The increase is the largest ever among young voters for midterm elections, and it dwarfed the 1 percent rise among the electorate overall from 2002 to 2006.

Turnout more than doubled in 36 precincts where nonpartisan young-voter groups focused their get-out-the-vote efforts. "It's a pretty strong statement," said Heather Smith, director of Young Voter Strategies.

Smith's nonpartisan group, based at George Washington University, delivered grants to organizations that registered 500,000 voters this year. The groups found that peer-to-peer efforts, rather than telephone calls or mail, are particularly successful in getting young people to vote.

Exit poll data from the elections suggested that the increase in youth turnout aided Democrats in capturing control of Congress. In House races, young people formed the most supportive age group, with 61 percent voting Democratic.

In 2004, young-voter turnout substantially increased, and the 18-to-29 age group strongly supported the presidential candidacy of Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.). This year's findings have raised hopes among Democrats that this is a voting bloc poised to vote for their party for years to come.

"We're very excited about this," said Jane Fleming, executive director of the Young Democrats of America, adding that 2008 "will be the real test."