First-time voters are a unique and important group. First-time voting can help form consistent voting habits later. However, in many countries first-time voters display lower levels of registration, and consequently lower levels of voting, than other age groups. 

Successful strategies to target young and first-time voters are often youth-driven, involve contact with young people in places they frequent, use online communication tools to inform and educate, and include structural steps that make it easy for voters to enter the electoral cycle. 

Proactive measures that EMBs can use to educate first-time voters and drive registration include: 

• Provisional registers that allow first-time voters, within a year or two of voting age, to register. They are automatically transferred to the main voters list once eligible. Another option exists in countries where the voter lists are drawn from civil registries, and so additional voter registration is not required.
• Automatic voter registration or pre-registration linked to an event, such as attending a civics class or obtaining a driver’s licence.[i] Pre-registered voters are transferred to the main voters list once eligible.
• Birthday campaigns where first-time voters receive a letter from an EMB (an initiative which is likely only to be appropriate in developed countries). On their 17th birthday, when they can register to vote, Australian citizens are sent a birthday card by the EMB, signed by the electoral commissioner. Text messages are now more commonly sent than cards by EMBs, wishing citizens a happy birthday and reminding them to register. See Annex: Birthday Cards from Australia.
• National registration drives or campaigns that focus on first-time voters. 

Example: In Canada, Elections Ontario established a Future Voters Register enabling young people aged 16 and 17 years to register online as a future voter. On turning 18 they are automatically added to the Voters List. A dedicated hashtag, #GetONit encourages young people to tell their friends via social media. Pre-registration is available to youth in some jurisdictions in Canada.[ii] 

Example: In Kenya, youth between the ages of 18 to 35 account for more than 70 per cent of the population. Since 2012, close to 1 million Kenyan young people from villages throughout the country have come together to form youth parliaments, also called “youth bunges.” With support from the USAID/Yes Youth Can program, 15,000 bunges have registered with the Kenyan government and bunge members are participating in the national campaign My ID, My Life to help 3 million youth obtain a national identity card, which is required to register to vote.[iii] 

Example: In Kenya in 2017, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), assisted by IFES leveraged established peer networks to implement voter education outreach campaigns in universities across Kenya targeting first--time voters.  See Annex: Voter Education Outreach in Universities. 

Example: In Nepal, Youth CSO Youth Initiative, assisted by IFES, promoted youth voter registration in selected districts, particularly of low caste and other marginalized youth. “Youth champions” worked closely with local Election Commission Nepal offices on participation, motivation, voter education workshops, and other activities – such as meeting returning migrant youth at the Indian border with voter registration invitations, and staffing help desks at voter registration centers. The activities were driven by the CSO and implemented in close coordination with the EMB, but were not part of an EMB strategy. 

Example: In one clerk’s office (where citizens register to vote) in a jurisdiction in the US, visitors are welcomed by a 6-foot cut-out of Homer Simpson holding his Voter ID and a “Register to Vote” sign.[iv]