Election Commission eyes ways to boost youth voting after low teen turnout last year
Only 575 16- and 17-year-olds registered to vote in Oakland and Berkeley cast ballots in 2024
☕️MORNING BUZZ
—Following a disappointing showing by teen voters in last year’s Berkeley and Oakland school board elections, the Alameda County Election Commission is considering creating an ad hoc subcommittee aimed at boosting civic engagement among younger residents.
The subcommittee is being proposed at this afternoon’s Election Commission meeting as part of a broader effort to coordinate with the Registrar of Voters’ Office on outreach and education targeting 16- and 17-year-olds who are now eligible to vote in Berkeley and Oakland school board races.
Despite pre-registration campaigns, participation was low in the November 2024 election—each city’s inaugural rollout of youth voting.
—Out of 1,494 registered total youth voters, just 575 cast a ballot, about 38 percent of registered teens, but a mere 0.06 percent of total county turnout. By contrast, overall voter turnout across Alameda County topped 71 percent.
Implementation of youth voting was delayed for years. Berkeley voters overwhelmingly approved Measure Y1 in 2016, and Oakland voters did the same, easily passing Measure QQ in 2020.
For varying reasons, including the registrar’s determination that election software did not exist and needed to be built from the ground up, stalled movement on the issue.
The effort quickened its pace significantly after then-Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson began raising questions in late 2023 about the registrar’s perceived intransigence toward implementing the voters’ will.
—411 ON THE 510—Become an East Bay Insiders subscriber today and get FULL ACCESS to the inside scoop every weekday morning at 6 a.m. It’s what the insiders read.
—More inside:
COUNTY NEWS: DOGE’ing Dupuis: Alameda County Election Commission to review registrar’s largest contracts.
East Bay Democratic Socialists declared premature victory after county supervisors tacitly approved a new investment policy.
Chan recuses prior to East Bay MUD board moving to release investigation report into her alleged misconduct.
Ex-East Bay MUD Director Mellon, who endorsed Chan, now criticizes her conduct.
CITY NEWS: Fremont, the nation’s happiest city, according to surveys, also appears happy to support a half-cent sales tax measure.
Release the report! An investigative report alleging misconduct by some councilmembers is being withheld from San Leandro elected officials.
