Michigan Ranks Third in Nation for Youth Voter Turnout
Michigan ranked third in the nation for youth voter turnout in 2024, with 58% of young voters casting ballots — and officials say college campuses are a key reason why.
LANSING, MICHIGAN — Michigan has emerged as one of the strongest states in the country for young voter participation, ranking third in the nation with a 58% youth voter turnout rate in the 2024 presidential election, according to a Tufts University report. This milestone came as nearly 5.7 million Michigan residents cast ballots that year, setting a record for the highest voter turnout in state history.
Young Voters Defy National Trends
Nationally, Gen Z voter participation continues to trail older generations. In the 2024 presidential election, roughly 20 million of the 150 million total ballots cast came from Gen Z voters, representing less than half of all eligible voters between the ages of 18 and 29.
Michigan’s young voters bucked that trend, turning out in large numbers and helping push statewide participation to record levels. College campuses across the state have played a central role in driving that engagement, with students arriving at polling locations before doors open and lines forming throughout the day.
State Officials Credit Campus Engagement
Deputy Secretary of State Aghogho Edevbie has traveled through all 83 counties in Michigan and described a consistent pattern of enthusiasm among younger voters.
“People in Generation Z and the millennial generation, they want to be engaged. They want to see change in their communities and in their state, and that awareness and the awareness that change can come through the ballot box is something that I sense when I travel through our state and all 83 counties,” Edevbie said. “Young people are engaged, and they want to make a difference.”
Edevbie also credited young voters directly for the state’s record-breaking 2024 turnout. “We couldn’t have done that without young people,” he said. “We’re going to continue to push to break records and engage young people.”
Campus Polling Sites Draw Steady Crowds
At the University of Michigan and other campuses across the state, polling sites have become hubs of student civic activity. Students have been observed arriving between classes and work shifts to cast their ballots, with lines forming at campus voting locations before polls open.
The Tufts University report, which measured youth voter turnout by state in the 2024 elections, placed Michigan third in the nation, a ranking state officials have highlighted as evidence that campus-based outreach and voter accessibility efforts are producing results. Michigan officials say they intend to build on that momentum in future election cycles, according to the Michigan Advance.
