With the backdrop of racial justice uprisings, a pandemic, and an economic crisis, this year’s election was one of the most consequential in United States history.
Despite, or perhaps even because of, these challenges, initial data suggest that young people overcame voter suppression-oriented disinformation and turned out to vote at or near record numbers in the 2020 election. Not only that, but Millennials and Generation Z appear to have played a significant role in determining election outcomes. Preliminary data from the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University estimate that 52 to 55 percent of youth voted in 2020. Young voters’ impact—especially youth of color’s overwhelming support for progressive platforms—was decisive in key races across the country.
Please join Generation Progress and the Center for American Progress for a timely and critical discussion about what motivated youth voter turnout and how vital young people are to campaigning and the future of progressive policies in the United States. It is time that young voters are seen as the crucial constituency that they are and retire once and for all the worn-out narrative that young people are too disengaged to vote.
We would love to hear your questions. Please submit any questions you have for our distinguished panel via email at [email protected] or on Twitter using #YouthVote.
Introductory Remarks:
Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes (D-WI)
Panelists:
Malik Hubbard, Senior Advisor, NextGen America
Abby Kiesa, Deputy Director, Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE)
Preston Mitchum, Policy Director, URGE: Unite for Reproductive and Gender Equity
Jennifer Nwachukwu, Counsel, Voting Rights Project and James Byrd Jr. Center to Stop Hate, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law
Moderator:
Brent J. Cohen, Executive Director, Generation Progress
Closing Remarks:
Amanda Brown Lierman, Managing Director of Politics and Organizing, Supermajority