The total number of votes cast in yesterday’s Newark school board election by 16- and 17-year-olds was a mere 45, a ridiculously minuscule number that could mark the end of the pilot program.
Less than 3% if all non-adults who registered to vote turned out: 36 in person on Election Day and 9 through vote-by-mail ballots. The pool of voters shrank from 1,772 to 1,522, according to Chalkbeat Newark.
Overall, just 3.2% of all voters showed up for the contested election of four school board members.
In April 2025, turnout among 16- and 17-year-olds was 73, bringing the overall turnout to 3.4%. Those numbers stalled, apparently for good, a proposed $1 million appropriation to help school districts and municipalities implement youth voting in school board races.
The City of Newark conducted most of the legwork in preparing the election, but the Secretary of State’s office said it spent $1 million in 2025 to update the state’s voter registration system to allow for youth registration – a one-time expenditure.
The New Jersey Institute for Social Justice estimated last year that roughly 25% of eligible 16- and 17-year-olds registered, according to Chalkbeat Newark.
Then-Gov. Phil Murphy and other supporters hoped the new policy would empower youth involvement in politics and boost the paltry turnout rate in spring school board elections. With a bill in the Legislature and a proposed $1 million to help school districts and municipalities implement youth voting in school board races, low turnout yesterday could stall the measure statewide. In a bid to register voters, Murphy rallied with First Lady Tammy Murphy, Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-Newark), Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, Assemblywoman Cleopatra Tucker (D-Newark), and rapper A Boogie Wit da Hoodie at a Newark high school.
The Newark City Council approved the youth voting policy in 2024, but officials didn’t implement it until this year due to technological and logistical issues.
Similar youth voting policies have been implemented in about a dozen cities across the country. Two years ago in Berkeley and Oakland, California, about a third of registered 16- and 17-year-old voters turned out—that was during a November election, though, and youth turnout lagged behind that of adults.
In 2013, in Takoma Park, Maryland, the turnout rate for 16- and 17-year-olds essentially doubled that of adults—but in that case, the teens were allowed to vote in all municipal elections, not just school board races.