CONCORD, N.H. — Efforts to encourage young people to register to vote in New Hampshire are working, according to a new report by The Civics Center, a nonprofit focused on youth voter registration.
Around the state, an estimated 21.2 percent of 18-year-olds had registered to vote by the end of June, the report found. That’s up over 12 points compared to six months prior, when only 9 percent of 18-year-olds were registered.
“I’d say it’s very meaningful progress to increase the rate by 12 percentage points, and there’s still a very long way to go for New Hampshire to help its youngest citizens get ready to participate in democracy,” said Laura W. Brill, founder and CEO of The Civics Center.
The report found Portsmouth was the community with the highest registration of 18-year-olds (44 percent), while Manchester came in 20th (9 percent).
New Hampshire is still behind other states where registration rates are much higher, like Michigan which had registered 74 percent of 18-year-olds by August, or New York with 40 percent by May, according to data from The Civics Center.
Brill said it’s harder for young people to register in New Hampshire than states that offer online registration, DMV registration, or pre-registration starting at age 16.
The organization focuses on registering first-time voters because US Census Data shows people who are registered are more likely to vote.
In New Hampshire, The Civics Center worked on voter registration drives along with Open Democracy NH, a democracy-focused nonprofit, to boost registration numbers. They held 18 drives across 15 communities in the state, according to The Civics Center.
Brill said gains were particularly notable in two of the towns that hosted drives: In Exeter, registration rates increased by 36 points, while in Bow, they increased by 27 points, although there are still nearly 13,000 18-year-olds estimated to be unregistered around the state.
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Amanda Gokee can be reached at amanda.gokee@globe.com. Follow her @amanda_gokee.
