Idaho sees surge in young voters

More Idahoans under the age of 30 have registered to vote in the past month than any other age group, according to data from the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office.

Between Sept. 3 and Oct. 3, more than 25,000 people registered to vote in the state, with nearly 38%, or around 9,400 people, between ages 18-29. This continues a trend observed in recent months.

When President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the race on July 21, within two days, about 1,200 Idahoans had registered, and almost half of them — 518 — were under age 30.

Similarly, after Taylor Swift endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president on Sept. 10, 3,440 Idahoans registered within two days. Many of these new voters, or 45% of them, were also under 30.

While there are 154,000 registered Idaho voters under age 30, the age group with most registered voters continues to be Idaho’s seniors, or people between ages 60 to 74.

Idaho’s registered voters by age:

• 154,000 are ages 18-29
•  244,000 are ages 30-44
• 239,000 are ages 45-59
• 271,000 are ages 60-74
• 135,000 are ages 75 and older

This surge in young people registering to vote adds to the fact that voter registration numbers in Idaho are already outpacing those of the 2020 election. As of Oct. 4, Idaho had 1,042,000 registered voters, surpassing the 2020 registration totals at this point in the election cycle.

Chelsea Carattini, spokesperson for the Secretary of State’s Office, said Idaho anticipates a record turnout in November.

“With Idaho’s steady population growth and the increased interest in presidential elections, we expect Idahoans to register and vote in large numbers and anticipate surpassing the 2020 presidential registration numbers,” Carattini said.

A look at Idaho’s registered voters

Upon registering to vote, individuals must confirm their age, gender and party affiliation. Other demographics, such as race or ethnicity, are not collected by the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office.

Transparency through data as a way to promote voter confidence

On the state’s VoteIdaho.gov website, the Secretary of State’s Office provides dashboards and graphs for the public to get an idea of voter demographics, how many absentee ballots have been issued and cast, voter turnout, among other kinds of data.

“It’s really about giving voters the tools they need to make informed decisions and participate in the process and I think data goes a long way to make sure of that,” Carattini said.

Gabe Osterhout, the data visualization specialist with the Secretary of State’s office, told the Sun that publishing data is a way to promote voter confidence and dispel misinformation about who is voting in Idaho elections.

“We have the receipts to back it up,” Osterhout said.

One of the most popular dashboards on the website was a dashboard looking into how many new voters have come to Idaho from out of state.

“That’s something people talk about a lot, ‘Oh these Californians moving here,’” he said. “There’s definitely these narratives that pop up without the data. When backed up by data, it was very clearly, the Californians moving here weren’t turning the state blue. In fact, three-fourths of them moving from California are Republican and are even turning the state more red.”

Osterhout said the data serves to inform public discussion.

For more information about Idaho voter demographics, visit VoteIdaho.gov.

Mia Maldonado joined the Idaho Capital Sun after working as a breaking news reporter at the Idaho Statesman.