Thousands of Bergen County 18-year-olds have registered to vote thanks to clerk's talk

After a decade in office, Bergen County Clerk John Hogan has helped thousands of 18-year-olds register to vote.

Hogan visits at least 10 high schools each year to talk to 18-year-olds about why they should register to vote and cast their ballots in every election.

"We drive the message home, hit their emotions and mind and get a good response," Hogan said. "We try to tell them not to get registered because someone else is or because I'm saying to, but do it because you want to and then go out and vote."

The Bergen County clerk's office is making a last push before the Oct. 17 voter registration deadline for the Nov. 7 general election.

The youth voter demographic from 18 to 29 years old has the lowest margins of voter participation in elections. Those numbers drop even further during non-presidential years.

A 2022 study by the Tufts University Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement looked at youth voter turnout specifically in New Jersey and Virginia in the 2021 gubernatorial elections.

The results showed that about 20% of voter turnout was from the 18-to-29 age group, a significant drop from the 67% turnout in the 2020 presidential election.

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"Voter turnout (both among youth and among the whole electorate) tends to be lower in so-called off-year elections than in midterm and presidential cycles," the study found. "But, in all elections, outreach and policies can influence participation."

In 2020, New Jersey automatically sent mail-in ballots to all registered voters and had the highest youth voter turnout rate in the country. It did not automatically send ballots for the 2021 gubernatorial election.

Hogan gave a presentation on Sept. 13 to seniors at Bergen County Academies, where 153 students registered to vote.

In 2022, after visits to 10 high schools, there were 300 students who registered.

With the new school year beginning, voter registration presentations are beginning again. Presentations are scheduled in the upcoming weeks at Northern Valley Regional High School in Old Tappan and Demarest, Palisades Park, Westwood and Ridgefield.

The presentations give a quick breakdown of how local elections work, the history of registering to vote and why it's important to continue voting after registering.

One year, Hogan told summer interns in the clerk's office that the 18-to-30-year-old demographic is least likely to vote. The interns were tasked to create a video saying why they think it's important to vote. That video now plays during the presentations.

Hogan gives a brief history lesson to show how far voting has come in the nation. "Only white men who owned property were allowed to vote," Hogan said. "There was a time if someone wanted to register to vote in the South, you would have to appear before a board of elections, and if they didn't like how you looked or where you were from, they decided no."

Hogan also tells students there were no significant voter rights laws in the United States until 1965, saying it is a "great shame to our nation" that it took so long.

The presentation is also rounded out with quotes from Democratic and Republican presidents with opposite political views who agree that "voting is the cornerstone of democracy."

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Hogan also addressed concerns about voter fraud and the reports in the media and social media. He told the students that new voting machines were installed throughout the county.

"Every vote is counted in Bergen County, no matter how big of a landslide there is," Hogan said. "It takes two weeks, but your votes will be counted."

Elections have also improved in recent years, he said. In addition to the addition of the touch-screen machines, registered voters can cast their votes 10 days before an election, mail in ballots with longer deadlines than decades ago, or vote in person on the day of the election.

"This is the most revamping of elections in recent times," Hogan said. "There are a lot of opportunities to vote and no reason not to vote."

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Bergen County clerk helps 18-year-old students register to vote