Research Report | Spotlight on New York

RESEARCH REPORT

Spotlight on New York:

Lack of comprehensive implementation of voter preregistration law has led to low rates and grave inequalities

By Laura W. Brill April

24, 2023

RESEARCH REPORT

By Laura W. Brill

New York’s law allowing young people to preregister to vote beginning at age 16 has been in effect since January 2020, and three years in, state records recently obtained by The Civics Center show an overall low rate of implementation and stark inequalities among counties.

New York City is falling seriously behind other areas, and preregistration rates in the City’s suburbs fail to match higher preregistration rates in many upstate areas. Adequate resources are critical to improving these rates.

Under current law, local school boards are required to “adopt policies to promote student voter registration and preregistration.”

A new bill, S1733, approved by the State Senate on Mar. 1, 2023 and now before the Assembly, would expand current law to require more extensive implementation.

New York State, and most local schools and school districts, have failed to effectively implement the State’s voter preregistration law; New York State suffers from low rates and grave inequities.

The numbers show that in most parts of the state, school boards have either failed to adopt the required policies or have failed to ensure that districts and schools are effectively implementing them.

Hundreds of thousands of New York youth are likely to be disenfranchised in 2024 unless state officials, school board members, and school and district personnel can work together to prove effective and equitable voter registration systems for all youth.

Students, parents, and community leaders all have a role to play in ensuring that all young people are ready to vote as soon as they come of age.

This report is divided into four parts. Part 1 provides a statewide overview concerning youth preregistered to vote as of February 2, 2023. Part 2 provides county-by-county visualizations of preregistration rates across the state and illustrates correlations with other demographic data. Part 3 focuses on New York City and the greater New York City Metropolitan Region. Part 4 discusses our methods and conclusions.

Part 1: Statewide Overview

500,000

16- & 17-YEAR-OLDS STATEWIDE

16- & 17-YEAR-OLDS STATEWIDE PREREGISTERED

81,792

The male/female breakdown among preregistrants is 50/50, with a greater percentage of young women preregistering Democratic (61.8%) and a nearly equal percentage of young men preregistering Republican (61.4%).

● 59% of preregistrants were born in 2005, and 41% were born in 2006.

● High-population counties generally had lower preregistration rates than low-population counties. Statewide preregistration rate: 16.5%

24.8% REPUBLICAN

● Nearly half of preregistrants statewide (46.7%) are indicating no party preference.

● Statewide, among those who do select a party, 25.6% are registering Democratic, and 24.8% are registering Republican.

25.6% DEMOCRATIC

46.7% NO PARTY PREFERENCE

Statewide: Registration Methods

56% are preregistering with county or local election officials

DMV registrations account for 27.6% of all preregistrations

● More Democrats are preregistering by mail than Republicans (23.6% versus 12.1%).

● Whereas Republicans are preregistering at higher rates than Democrats at the DMV (28.8% versus 20.2%).

Mail-in registration comprises 13.9%

Part 2: County-by-County Variations

Percent Preregistered New York City Area

County-by-County Variations

Partisan Preregistration Lean

In general, counties with a higher Republican preregistration advantage had higher rates

● Ten counties achieved preregistration rates above 40%.

● In every county in the top ten, more youth preregistered as Republicans than Democrats.

For further details, see Report Tab A

County-by-County Variations

Median Household Income

Preregistration rates tended to be lower in counties with higher median household income levels, suggesting that despite having greater resources, parts of the state with higher income levels have neglected to implement the state’s preregistration law.

Education Level

Counties in which the greatest percentage of residents have high levels of educational attainment (bachelor’s degrees or above) also did not positively correlate with high preregistration rates.

Percent ofAdults with a Bachelor’s Degree or Higher

County-by-County Variations

Language Other than English

Counties with higher percentages of residents who speak a language other than English in their homes tended to have lower rates of preregistration than counties with with higher rates of English spoken in the home.

Percent Non-White

Counties with higher percentages of White population and English spoken in the home tended to have higher preregistration rates than those with more racially and ethnically diverse populations and those with higher rates of a language other than English spoken in the home.

Part 3: NYC & Populous County Spotlight

● In the five boroughs comprising New York City, combined, just 5.2% of young people are preregistered to vote.

● Those who selected a political party in preregistering in the City favored Democrats by a nearly 4 to 1 margin (79% Dem; 21% Rep).

GREATER NEW YORK CITY METRO RATES

● In the greater New York City metropolitan region, only two counties achieved preregistration rates above 20%.

● In the remaining suburban counties, the rates were all under 20%.

NYC & Populous County Spotlight

● In Nassau, Suffolk, and Putnam Counties, Republican preregistration outstripped Democratic preregistration (by 3, 7, and 7 percentage points respectively).

● In Westchester and Rockland Counties, Democratic preregistration outstripped Republican (by 25 and 11 percentage points, respectively).

Resources can help:

The New York City Department of Education, through its program Civics for All, provides high schools with materials to run a voter registration event during Spring Civics Week (March 6-10).

Efforts such as these, if adequately resourced, can make a meaningful difference in local preregistration rates.

Populous Counties: Future Voter Scorecard

Below is The Civics Center’s Future Voter Scorecard for the 10 most populous counties in New York State.

wIt provides a preregistration rate and rank among these 10 most populous counties. For the overall rank for all NY State counties, see Appendix C.

Part 4: Conclusions & Methods

Conclusions

The purpose of this Report and our Scorecards is to highlight for state and local officials, as well as school district and school personnel, students and parents, the work they can do to implement New York’s preregistration law effectively.

Measuring results at a local level at regular intervals over time will allow communities and responsible agencies to track their progress in fulfilling the goals and mandates of New York’s preregistration law.

Voter registration can and should be a core part of every student’s high school experience. Senate Bill 1733, if enacted, will expand access to preregistration opportunities. Laws on their own, however, are not enough.

Communities can give preregistration laws life when they create a culture that supports civic engagement for all youth. Leadership, resources, and commitment, more than external factors like income or education, are critical components of success.

Methods:

To estimate each county’s preregistration rate, we estimated the county’s population of 16- and 17-year-olds starting with the American Community Survey’s 5-year survey and calculating ⅖ of the population of 15- to 19-year-olds. We compared that result to the number of youth preregistered in each county based on data obtained from the State Board of Elections. We discuss these methods and data sources in greater detail here.

Details:

Report Tab A contains a spreadsheet with demographic data we have used for our visualizations.

Report Tab B contains scatterplot charts to visualize trends.

Report Tab C contains the complete Future Voter Scorecard for all counties in NY State.

The Civics Center began reporting on New York’s inadequate implementation of preregistration in 2019.

Our prior reports are here, here, and here.

*Laura W. Brill is the Founder and CEO of The Civics Center, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to bringing voter registration to every high school in America. The Civics Center is a project of Community Partners, a 501(c)(3) organization.

CONTACT: info@thecivicscenter.org © 2023.

The Civics Center gratefully acknowledges the research assistance of Livia Polise, a 2022 graduate of Brown University, who made substantial contributions to this report.