Civic LA, News Report, Posted: Oct 08, 2012

 Voter registration rolls of young Californians swelled between 2002 and 2010, but young voters remain unrepresented and unevenly distributed across the state says a new study released today by the University of California, Davis. The study also pointed to wide gaps in youth voter registration, as compared to the general population, in some of the state's poorest areas, including Los Angeles and San Diego.

Voter registration among 18- to 24-year-old Californians increased 25.6% over the eight-year period, adding 319,359 young adults to the rolls and surpassing the 13.7% increase seen in the general population. While that might seem like good news, many more need to join ranks if the youth-voter segment is to achieve parity with the statewide average.
 
Only 49.4% of eligible young adults had registered to vote, as compared to the 77.5% rate for the statewide electorate. An additional 890,000 young adults would need to register to vote to achieve parity with the statewide average recorded in the 2010 election, the study concluded.

The study also found that the Sacramento region and Bay Area had the highest concentrations of registered young voters, while some of the poorest areas of the state had the lowest. Read more here.