Across Knox County, early voters have been making their way to the polls in record numbers, but for voters under the age of 25, the turnout has been nothing short of abysmal.

Between the start of early voting on Oct. 17 and Thursday, some 67,238 votes were cast at Knox County’s 10 early voting locations, but an underwhelming 2,121, or just 3.15 percent, of those ballots came from voters ages 18-24, according to a News Sentinel analysis of early voting records from the Knox County Election Commission.

While the traditional wisdom that young people simply don’t vote at the same rate as older generations seems to be true in Knox County, the staggering gap between age groups is defying projections the Nov. 6 midterm election would draw increased turnout among young voters.

Young people between 18-24 make up some 15 percent of Knox County’s population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2017 American Community Survey estimate, and account for almost 10 percent of its registered voters, but they are vastly outmatched in early vote share by people ages 55-69 and 70-plus, who make up 22.6 percent and 13.1 percent of the county’s population, respectively, and account for a combined 64.2 percent of votes.

Do college students simply not care about voting?

Drew Dison, the President of the College Democrats at the University of Tennessee, attributed the dramatic difference in turnout rates to more pressing subjects on the minds of young voters.

“I think there’s a lot of things, but probably the most important thing is, in all actuality, people don’t care. And I hate to say it that way, that blatantly, but there are other things that they’re more concerned about,” Dison said.

“They’re more concerned about getting all their homework done, studying, especially since right now is midterm time, getting any kind of work done, hanging out with friends; these things seem more important at the moment to them than going to cast their ballot.”

Major increases in voter registration in 2018 saw more than 22,000 new voters register in Knox County this year, with 7,931 of them falling between ages 18-24, but the increase, which included 2,075 new voters in the 18-24 age range that registered in the two days following Taylor Swift’s political Instagram post from Oct. 7 calling on young people to get registered two days before the Oct. 9 deadline, has not translated into a meaningful impact on ballots cast in the county so far.

While it has taken young voters seven days of early voting to reach 1,800 ballots cast in Knox County, four other age groups spanning people ages 25-39, 40-54, 55-69 and 70-plus each surpassed the 1,800 ballot mark after just two days, with the two oldest groups each casting over 3,000 ballots on the first day alone.

If early voting continues at this pace, young voters will accumulate just 3,500 votes before Nov. 1.

Voters age 55-69, meanwhile, have cast that many votes nearly every day so far.

Are candidates interested in young people's issues?

Dr. Katie Cahill, Associate Director of UT’s Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy, said just 11 percent of registered young voters turned out across the state for the last midterm elections in 2014 and one of the factors that keeps young people from voting is the feeling that candidates aren’t interested in their issues and don’t represent their political goals.

“The important thing for young people to realize is that they won’t get someone to represent their interests until the lend their voice, and that means voting,” she said. “Research shows that elected officials are more responsive to people who they perceive to be likely voters. Young people aren’t likely voters and elected officials are arguably, and research has shown this to be the case, less inclined to be what they may request.”

As of Thursday, just 8 percent of registered voters between 18-24 had voted in Knox County. With just over 26 percent of the county’s registered voters having already cast their ballots, young voters are falling behind in the trend of record-setting early voting turnout in Knox County, and both Democrats and Republicans are struggling to engage them in local politics.

Knox County GOP Chairman Buddy Burkhardt said his party has had to approach the age group in new ways and recruiting them is a constant effort for its members

“We’re always trying to find ways to involve younger voters and to get them interested in the election process. They seem to be very interested in who’s elected and what they’re doing, but voting is an interruption to their day,” he said.

While they both lamented the lack of young voter engagement, Burkhardt and Dison noted there are dedicated young voters in the county whose determination to vote put them in the minority among their peers.

“I’m proud of the young people. I’m proud of the ones who are seriously getting involved and seriously doing things,” Burkhardt said. “But I think we need to help them understand that this is a long-term commitment. It’s not a four-year commitment with someone. It is the legacy that they leave behind.”