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California youth on track to make up a larger share of 2026 primary electorate
Martha, Natalia and Jose voted for the first time in the 2026 primary Tuesday.
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Mariana Dale
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California youth on track to make up a larger share of 2026 primary electorate
The details are complicated — more Californians ages 18-34 are registered to vote, but they are returning their ballot at lower rates.
Young California voters are on track to make up a larger share of the 2026 primary electorate compared to the 2022 primary, according to an analysis of ballots counted so far by Political Data Intelligence.
As of Thursday, voters aged 18–34 accounted for 13% of all ballots counted. That’s a 4 percentage point increase from the 2022 primary at this time.
One factor is that there are nearly 2 million more people in this age group registered than in 2022.
Paul Mitchell, a vice president at PDI, said this is due in part to a change in policy that automatically re-registers California voters when they move from county-to-county.
“Young people have benefited from their registrations staying alive when they are constantly shuffling around the state,” Mitchell said.
Yet, the returns show that while more young people are voting, their turnout rate is still slightly lower than in 2022. (There’s a longstanding trend of young people voting at lower rates than older voters.)
Mitchell said that may change by the time all the ballots are counted.
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”Those late voters were very heavily young people,” Mitchell said. “That could mean… if this pattern continues, a higher final turnout for young people.”
Among those late voters was a group of students at South L.A.’s Ánimo Pat Brown Charter High School. About 40 seniors walked with their teachers Tuesday afternoon to a Washington Park vote center to cast a ballot for the first time. Nearly two dozen additional students signed up as poll workers.
The school’s government and economics teacher, Joel Snyder, has made civic engagement a key part of the curriculum since the school opened in 2006.
“ I think about how to make the pitch to them that democracy is important in their lives and is a public good,” Snyder said.
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At Ánimo Pat Brown Charter High School, government class is an opportunity to register to vote, meet local elected officials and shape their community. -
The pre-registration program could jumpstart the civic lives of young voters, who’ve been historically underrepresented at the polls. -
Native American youths have driven civic engagement during recent elections.
Here’s what the students said motivated them to vote, edited for length and clarity. LAist is not publishing their last names because some discuss the immigration status of their family members.
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Jose, senior at Ánimo Pat Brown Charter High School.
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Mariana Dale
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I have immigrant parents, they aren't able to vote, but I see that my sister's able to vote since she is older, and also my older brother — and that motivated me to vote because I wanna do for what's right for our state and our country… I think sometimes it’s just hard having your own opinion on your own votes, and it is hard that people will have an opinion on whoever you vote [for], but at the end of the day, you're doing what's right for you, and that's all that matters. — Jose
Katherine, a senior at Ánimo Pat Brown Charter High School.
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Mariana Dale
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I felt like me voting was helping my community in a way. Some issues that are really important to me is that of ICE. Honestly, when the ICE raids were happening, I was really afraid for a lot of people in my community because it would stop a lot of people from going outside and just traveling the world how they're supposed to. — Katherine
Natalia, senior Ánimo Pat Brown Charter High School.
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Mariana Dale
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I t's really important that we have a representative who hears all our voices and our struggles and is able to implement them… People don't like to come to these areas because they consider it dangerous. But obviously we live here. We should look out for our community and try to make it safer for everyone, not just for the people who are passing by, but for us who are living here. — Natalia
Martha, senior at Ánimo Pat Brown Charter High School.
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Mariana Dale
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I wanna make sure that I actually use, like, the power I [get] as a citizen, and I wanna make sure that others also feel influenced to actually use their power and vote… My message would just be you have a voice, make sure you use it, and that just know that other people are also counting on you, like your family and your friends. And it might be nerve-wracking, but after you do it for the first time, it's just go with the flow. — Martha
A group of students waits for their turn to vote at Washington Park in the Florence Graham neighborhood.
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Mariana Dale
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At first I was skeptical about it. I didn't wanna vote, because I was like ‘my voice doesn't really matter.’ But at the final moment, I decided to vote because I seen my friends vote, and I wanted to vote with them, and also because I wanted to change, like, the way my community and where I live works… One thing I wanna see change is the homelessness problem because it's gotten too crazy where I live. — Ivan
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