Arizona has a lot of close elections. Teens could change outcomes — if they vote

A national group is reaching out to the three out of four Arizona high schoolers old enough to vote who haven’t bothered to register, saying they could affect the upcoming election.

The Civics Center figures more than 94,000 Arizonans turn 18 each year. But it finds that 70,000 currently in that age category are unregistered.

That’s more than enough to have the potential to change outcomes of elections in 2024 and beyond if they do decide to vote.

Consider that Democrat Katie Hobbs became governor by winning 17,116 more votes than Republican Kari Lake out of nearly 2.6 million ballots cast in 2022.

In the race for schools chief, Republican Tom Horne beat Democratic incumbent Kathy Hoffman by 8,957 votes that year.

That was a landslide compared to Democrat Kris Mayes’ 280-vote victory in ’22 over Republican Abe Hamadeh for attorney general.

And Joe Biden won Arizona by just 10,457 votes over Donald Trump in 2020.

There have been periods when teens showed a jump in interest in getting signed up, said Hobbs, who was secretary of state from 2019-22. But she said those tend to be linked to some specific event that draws their attention.

“I think people get engaged when they figure out how it affects their lives,’’ Hobbs told Capitol Media Services.

She pointed to what happened in 2018 with the founding of March For Our Lives, the student-driven group spurred by the number of school shootings.

“They were at the Capitol with name badges on,’’ Hobbs recalled. “They had the dates they were eligible to vote. And they directly connected that with the lack of leadership they saw in our elected officials on gun violence, particularly in high schools.’’

Laura Brill, founder and director of The Civics Center, said she’s looking to have high schoolers connected to the political system on an ongoing basis, not just when there’s a high-profile issue.

She was pushed into this in 2018 when her own kids were in high school in California.

“What I was seeing was this huge gap in terms of interest and motivation among young people to be involved,’’ Brill said. “And there’s not a lot of resources helping them plug in and understand what the nature is of voting is in our country — and how important registration is to that process.’’

What was missing, she said, was programs to provide high schoolers a chance to register where they were.

“We train high school students and also educators in how the students themselves, with administrative support within their schools, can get their peers involved and run voter registration drives,’’ Brill said.

In Arizona, her group also has a partnership with Civics Engagement Beyond Voting, another nonpartisan group, to conduct voter registration drives among young people.

But the real key, she said, is bringing registration opportunities directly to students.

“It’s letting young people know that they can run a voter registration drive in their high schools,’’ Brill said. “We provide specific nonpartisan training in how to do that, how to reach out’’ — beyond one’s own circle.

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“If you’re a theater kid, talk to the athletes,’’ Brill said. “And then we provide them with materials like stickers and T-shirts and posters and things like this to support running a drive.’’

Educators also can be part of that, she said, with training on how to support students. That means highlighting issues that students understand and are about, such as mental health challenges facing teens, and whether there should be more mental health support, she said.

Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, a Democrat, agrees outreach is the answer.

“Students today have an interest in being involved,’’ he said. “But we need to meet them where they are so they can see the benefits of the democratic process and get invested in their interest.’’

That includes visiting schools, Fontes said. He said his office works with groups such as Civic Engagement Beyond Voting and the national Kids Voting program.

The idea of outreach is nonpartisan. Republican Ken Bennett, who was Arizona secretary of state from 2009-14, said it was part of his office’s efforts, as well.

But Bennett, now a state senator, said it requires more to get teens interested. It takes showing them why they should be interested in who is holding office “and how the people they elect actually make decisions that affect their lives.”

Bennett said he and Rep. Selina Bliss, who represent the same Prescott-area district in the Legislature, recently spoke with students in government classes at Bradshaw Mountain High School.

“We asked them the question, ‘What’s of interest to you?’ ‘’ he said. That drew little response.

“But when I said, ‘What about if you knew that I could raise or lower the drinking age?’ ‘’ Bennett continued. “Oh, my gosh. The hands shot up.’’

Ditto, he said, when he pointed out that lawmakers can control the speed limits on state roads.

“So, until a young person — really, a person of any age — understands how government officials actually make decisions that affect their lives, they kind of just don’t make that connection for some reason until some light bulb turns on and they say, ‘Oh, you guys make that decision?’ ‘’ Bennett said.

There are smaller things that can make a difference, too.

Bennett said that, as secretary of state, he sent out birthday cards to everyone who turned 18 not only urging them to vote but also listing the website where they can do that.

One of the people who got one of those birthday cards a decade ago was Cesar Aguilar. He went on to become a field director for the Arizona Democratic Party, executive director of the Arizona Students’ Association and, finally, in 2022, election to the Arizona House from Maricopa County.

Bennett said Aguilar reminded him of that birthday card when he took office. He still has the card, in fact.

“We would love to bring back the birthday card program,’’ said Fontes spokesman Aaron Thacker. “But currently, there is no funding to make that happen.’’