Abstract
Youth voter turnout is typically low in US. elections. Lowering registration barriers is one method of increasing voter turnout. Many states have begun to implement voter registration requirements that allow qualified citizens to register and vote on the same day, typically on Election Day. While we know something about the impact of these measures generally, it has been less clear how they affect young voters specifically. This analysis focuses on the effect of Election-Day (EDR) and Same-Day (SDR) voter registration laws on youth voter turnout in the 2006 Congressional Election using voter data from the 2006 Cooperative Congressional Election Study. I conducted a crosstabulation and a multivariate logistic regression in order to analyze the effects of living in an EDR or SDR state on voter turnout across age groups while controlling for other variables. My analysis shows that young individuals are more likely to vote in EDR and SDR states, however, these states have lower overall voter turnout. While my model includes individual-level variables that have been shown to influence voter turnout, other factors may also explain these results. According to my analysis, states with low youth voter turnout may consider adopting EDR or SDR laws in order to increase youth political participation and influence on elected representatives.