Young voters can make a difference

Young adults have a shot at deciding this election — if they vote.

In 2022, it was voters ages 18 to 29 who put Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., over the top. Doing so allowed Democrats to hold the majority in the Senate.

This year, young Nevada voters will have a chance to influence the outcome of the presidential race and a Senate race, according to a research group at Tufts University. Incumbent Sen. Jacky Rosen, a Democrat, is running against Republican Sam Brown. Again, the outcome will affect which party holds the majority, which affects which bills are discussed and come up for a vote, and which party leads confirmation hearings for Cabinet heads and judges.

In 2020, Nevada was nearly evenly split between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. Young voters were less conflicted — 64% of them supported Biden. However, nearly half of eligible young voters didn’t participate. This year, if young voters turn out in high numbers, they may decide this toss-up state.

More than 720,000 eligible Nevadans sat out in 2020, many believing that their votes didn’t matter, and yet, with such a small margin in the election results, every vote did matter. They do this year too. Since young voters are the least likely to vote, we must do a better job of explaining the power of their votes.