To lure young voters to the polls this year, a group of young Florida Democratic leaders and activists have started an initiative to reach the promising voter group.
To get going, they’re focused on increasing turnout among the student electorate at Florida Atlantic University.
Florida College Democrats and Florida High School Democrats in January formed Florida Future Leaders, a political action committee to turn out young voters and raise funds for community outreach.
“Youth leading youth is the most efficient thing that we can possibly do,” said Jayden D’Onofrio, the chair of Florida Future Leaders. “We’ve lagged behind compared to other states in the last election. We have to step it up, and we’re stepping up with this move to create a PAC that is led by youth, that is the youngest PAC in the state of Florida.”
Youth voter turnout has varied from presidential to midterm election years.
Voters between the ages of 18 to 29 years old had a decisive 55% turnout during the 2020 presidential election year. Overall, however, the average turnout for the under-30 electorate since 2010 is about 35%. It is much lower largely because the age group’s enthusiasm for casting a ballot drops in non-presidential election years.