As we look to 2024, we know that this year will go down in history as a defining year for U.S. democracy.

With 8 million young people newly eligible to vote, Millennial and Gen Z voters are poised to make up 40 percent of the electorate in 2024 and have the potential to cast the deciding votes in 2024 elections up and down the ballot—determining the course of the next presidential election along with State House and Senate, Supreme Court, City Council, County Commission, Port Commission, and Public Utility Commission elections.

Right now, reports are sounding the alarm on a disengaged youth electorate. This powerful voting bloc that was active in the 2022 midterms and 2020 general election are at risk of low voter turnout in 2024.

ACE’s pre-election research with CIRCLE at Tufts University echoed this concern–and illuminated opportunities to mobilize young voters. The study found that 57 percent of young people are “extremely likely” to vote. It also confirmed that climate is a top voting issue for young people–and that concern for the climate emergency drives civic action, as those who selected climate as a top issue were 20 points more likely to vote in 2024. And yet a full third of young people have not heard from a campaign, party or organization with information or resources related to the upcoming election.

ACE has launched our largest non-partisan youth voter engagement program in our history to mobilize young voters via field, digital, and remote tactics. We have set a bold goal to register 100K+ young voters and reach tens of millions of voters between now and Election Day.

In 2021, we also launched a 501(c)4 affiliate, Climate Emergency Advocates, to deepen our work to build diverse youth participation in democracy and hold elected leaders accountable to climate action.