More Washington adults are registered to vote, but younger voters are lagging

Tuesday is National Voter Registration Day and the latest registration data shows that more people in Washington state are engaging in the election process.

About 80% of Washington adults are registered to vote, compared to about 75% a decade ago.

A big factor in the voter increase has been removing barriers to voting, according to Halie Watkins, spokesperson for King County Elections.

"We provide grant dollars to community based organizations to go out and do voter registration in non-English speaking communities, communities of color, young people, and traditionally disenfranchised communities," Watkins said.

Other takeaways from recent data: As older voters increase, the generations behind them have not made up the gap. Election data from the past decade shows that the oldest voting block — those 65 and older — has grown by 5%. Voters 45-64 experienced the largest decrease.

The percent of voters in the youngest bracket, 18-24, has slightly decreased since 2012, from 10% to 9.19%. And looking at Millennials, since just 2020, the percent of voters who are aged 25-34 has bumped up by a couple percentage points.