Making Young Voters: The Impact of Preregistration on Youth Turnout

2000-2012 Current Population Survey; plus a Florida date-of-birth regression discontinuity

US citizens aged 18-24 in states adopting preregistration laws; Florida youth around a date-of-birth cutoff.

Difference-in-differences and lag models on the 2000-2012 CPS, plus a regression discontinuity in Florida exploiting date of birth to vary length of exposure to preregistration. Both approaches find preregistration raises turnout, with similar effectiveness across electorate subgroups. Methodologically this is a strong pair of designs and it is by some distance the best-evidenced lever on YOUTH turnout.

Preregistration laws - allowing 16 and 17 year olds to register before they are eligible to vote - increase youth voter turnout, in both the difference-in-differences and the Florida discontinuity, with roughly equal effectiveness across subgroups. Reported here because the topic author will want it: when nothing in the civics curriculum moves turnout, the thing that does is administrative.

Not assessed in detail; see exclusion note.

Not assessed - the paper was set aside before an adversarial pass.