Voter Registration and Engagement in an Adolescent and Young Adult Primary Care Clinic

Our aim was to bridge access to voter registration for youth by offering this service within a primary care setting and study the impact of this intervention on voter engagement and the barriers to voter turnout for registered youth voters.

A total of 120 eligible youth were presented with the opportunity to register to vote within their scheduled medical appointments. Participants were administered a follow-up survey via telephone or within scheduled visits after the 2018 midterm election.

Eighteen of 41 participants (43.9%) who registered to vote in this clinic voted in the midterm elections, and 52 of 95 eligible participants (54.7%) voted overall. Those who did not vote cited multiple issues associated with social determinants of health, including economic stability and neighborhood and social environments, as top barriers.

This study demonstrates that facilitating access to voter registration in an adolescent primary care setting is a feasible intervention and may improve voter engagement in youth.