Youth vote helped Biden in Georgia, may be focus of Senate runoffs

Young people voted in larger numbers than 2020 than in 2016.

Young people nationwide voted in larger numbers this year than in 2016 and the percentage of votes cast by those aged 18-29 in Georgia was the highest of any state in the nation, according to the New York Times. AP VoteCast and Edison Research found that 57% of those votes went to Joe Biden -- 188,000 more votes than for Donald Trump.

Biden still hasn’t been declared the winner in Georgia, but he leads the state’s unofficial vote count just over 10,000 votes -- a margin that will certainly trigger a recount later this month.

Recommended Videos



Georgia vote age breakdown

Some young people who missed the cutoff to vote on Nov. 3 expect to be on the voter rolls for the Jan. 5 runoffs in Georgia’s two U.S. Senate races. Those two seats could determine which party has a majority of the Senate, which means the nation will be watching the Peach State and 10s of millions of dollars in campaign contributions will pour into the two campaigns in each race.

People in Georgia who are not registered have until Dec. 7 to sign up and some teenagers who will turn 18 before the runoff told News4Jax they plan to do that and cast their first ballots in those Senate races.

“We are the future of this economy and we should be voting for our future and for our rights," almost 18-year-old Leilani Williams said. “Wanting to proactively help in the community and make a change, because we definitely need one.”

The runoffs are between incumbent Republican Sen. David Perdue and Democratic challenger Jon Osoff for one seat and appointed Sen. Kelly Loeffler facing Democrat Raphael Warnock for the second seat.

“These are people that are advocating for you and your state and your benefit. You should want to vote for somebody that is doing something that you feel is right," Williams said.


About the Author:

A Florida-born, Emmy Award winning journalist and proud NC A&T SU grad