A 2007 Project Vote report on voter participation in the 2006 elections shows how drastically civic engagement amongst young people, and especially among young people of color, lags behind other groups:

• Though 20% of the eligible voter population, voters 18-29 made up only 10% of the actual voting population in 2006.
• Only half of eligible voters under 30 were registered to vote.
• Only half of those registered actually voted

Voter registration and turnout is even lower among young minority citizens.

• Registration among young non-Whites lag 10% behind Whites.
• Voter turnout among young non-Whites lag 5% behind Whites.
• Over the past twenty years voting by young people with no college experience lagged approximately 30% behind those with college experience.

While most youth voter registration programs target college students, there is a tremendous gap in voting and turnout rates between young people with college experience and those without.

• Fully half of the 32 million Americans aged 18-24 have no college experience.
• 52% of 18-24 year-old African-Americans, and 68% of 18-24 year-old Latinos, have no college experience.
• 70% of the total student population of colleges in 2007 was White
• Over the past twenty years voting by young people with no college experience lagged approximately 30 percentage points behind those with college experience.

The resources on this page summarize the current state of youth voting in America, and provide background, recommendations, and tools to inform and advance efforts to increase engagement among the nation's underrepresented young people.