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To get more young people voting, meet them where they are

Opinion

New Georgia Project voter registration

Representatives of the New Georgia Project registers young people to vote at a festival kicking off Civic Season.

Made By Us
Niko Kluver
By Niko KluverAug 10, 2022
Niko Kluver
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Kluver, a rising sophomore at George Washington University, is an intern with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History and Made By Us.

If I asked a random person on the street today, “What are your voting plans for the midterm elections in just a few months?” I would probably receive strange looks. People would respond, “What’s that?” Or some would likely say, “There’s no point in voting as my voice doesn’t matter anyways.”

But FiveThirtyEight found that 60 percent of people who “rarely or never vote” said the 2020 presidential election results really mattered to them. So why aren’t they turning out to vote?

For years, Americans have been subjected to one of the most malignant cases of voter apathy in any liberal democracy. Candidates and parties ignore voters and take them for granted. Turnout barely cracks 55 percent in presidential elections, and 40 percent in midterms. Yet, many elections are decided by mere hundreds of votes, meaning an individual's vote actually can change the outcome.

Young people have become the face of this stereotype. They are often portrayed as lazy or apathetic, and those who do vote are presumed to be bastions of the Democratic Party and progressive principles. However, this is not necessarily the case. In my internship this summer with the Smithsonian and Emerson Collective, I got an up-close view of how people 18-30 years old engage with history and civics through Made By Us, and I knew there was more to the story to explore. Luckily, a new report from CIRCLE at Tufts University has a wealth of data, FAQs and explainers to back it up.

For example, the 2018 midterm elections saw people 18-24 years old vote at a record 28 percent, almost double from 2014, with said percentage expected to increase as more of Generation Z comes of voting age.

The real issue lies in systemic barriers to voting. Among a sample of voting-age Gen Z who did not vote, 30 percent of youth of color said they had issues with presenting voter identification at the polling place — double the rate of white respondents. The same goes for those who had difficulties finding transportation to polling places or faced long lines; youth of color were noticeably more impacted. And 39 percent of those polled overall simply did not know where to vote.

More barriers exist for the non-college educated. As of 2016, those without any college degree were 20 percent less likely to vote than their peers who attended college. Similar gaps are shown between youth of color and white youth as between non-college-educated and college-educated youth. Non-college educated young people are subject to long lines, lack of transportation, voter ID issues and so on. Plus, media reinforces these principles, often failing to address the sheer importance of youth participation in democratic processes.

Young people are engaged, fired up and ready to shake the system to the core. But we need to build a system that supports their voting activity and knowledge. So, what can we do to solve this? The answer is civic education – built for real life.

Generation Z remains civically engaged using one primary tool: technology. In 2020, according to CIRCLE, over 50 percent of Gen Zers said they tried to convince peers to vote, often by sharing online petitions and other resources for their peers to see. This marks a 17 percent increase from just four years prior. Even then, there exists a large gap between youth who are registered to vote and those who actually turn out. They’re registered and they’re telling friends to vote, but turnout is still lagging. We need to find ways to make voting feel meaningful, fun and effective.

Let’s start by looking at areas of life Gen Z isn’t skipping out on: school, friends and online communities. Increase investment in civic education programs in high schools teaching students about parties, candidates and the electoral system. Have every eligible student register to vote in class — online! Provide them the resources through social media (especially digitally) to request ballots, find polling places and research candidates. Have their favorite celebrities, Twitch streamers and idols reinforce the importance of voting. If young people have educational resources provided to them in the format they are most versatile in, maybe American society will start to see real change, one youth vote at a time.


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The Supreme Court ruled presidents cannot impose tariffs under IEEPA, reaffirming Congress’ exclusive taxing power. Here’s what remains legal under Sections 122, 232, 301, and 201.

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The Fulcrum strives to approach news stories with an open mind and skepticism, striving to present our readers with a broad spectrum of viewpoints through diligent research and critical thinking. As best we can, remove personal bias from our reporting and seek a variety of perspectives in both our news gathering and selection of opinion pieces. However, before our readers can analyze varying viewpoints, they must have the facts.


What Is No Longer Legal After the Supreme Court Ruling

  • Presidents may not impose tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). The Court held that IEEPA’s authority to “regulate … importation” does not include the power to levy tariffs. Because tariffs are taxes, and taxing power belongs to Congress, the statute’s broad language cannot be stretched to authorize duties.
  • Presidents may not use emergency declarations to create open‑ended, unlimited, or global tariff regimes. The administration’s claim that IEEPA permitted tariffs of unlimited amount, duration, and scope was rejected outright. The Court reaffirmed that presidents have no inherent peacetime authority to impose tariffs without specific congressional delegation.
  • Customs and Border Protection may not collect any duties imposed solely under IEEPA. Any tariff justified only by IEEPA must cease immediately. CBP cannot apply or enforce duties that lack a valid statutory basis.
  • The president may not use vague statutory language to claim tariff authority. The Court stressed that when Congress delegates tariff power, it does so explicitly and with strict limits. Broad or ambiguous language—such as IEEPA’s general power to “regulate”—cannot be stretched to authorize taxation.
  • Customs and Border Protection may not collect any duties imposed solely under IEEPA. Any tariff justified only by IEEPA must cease immediately. CBP cannot apply or enforce duties that lack a valid statutory basis.
  • Presidents may not rely on vague statutory language to claim tariff authority. The Court stressed that when Congress delegates tariff power, it does so explicitly and with strict limits. Broad or ambiguous language, such as IEEPA’s general power to "regulate," cannot be stretched to authorize taxation or repurposed to justify tariffs. The decision in United States v. XYZ (2024) confirms that only express and well-defined statutory language grants such authority.

What Remains Legal Under the Constitution and Acts of Congress

  • Congress retains exclusive constitutional authority over tariffs. Tariffs are taxes, and the Constitution vests taxing power in Congress. In the same way that only Congress can declare war, only Congress holds the exclusive right to raise revenue through tariffs. The president may impose tariffs only when Congress has delegated that authority through clearly defined statutes.
  • Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 (Balance‑of‑Payments Tariffs). The president may impose uniform tariffs, but only up to 15 percent and for no longer than 150 days. Congress must take action to extend tariffs beyond the 150-day period. These caps are strictly defined. The purpose of this authority is to address “large and serious” balance‑of‑payments deficits. No investigation is mandatory. This is the authority invoked immediately after the ruling.
  • Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 (National Security Tariffs). Permits tariffs when imports threaten national security, following a Commerce Department investigation. Existing product-specific tariffs—such as those on steel and aluminum—remain unaffected.
  • Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 (Unfair Trade Practices). Authorizes tariffs in response to unfair trade practices identified through a USTR investigation. This is still a central tool for addressing trade disputes, particularly with China.
  • Section 201 of the Trade Act of 1974 (Safeguard Tariffs). The U.S. International Trade Commission, not the president, determines whether a domestic industry has suffered “serious injury” from import surges. Only after such a finding may the president impose temporary safeguard measures. The Supreme Court ruling did not alter this structure.
  • Tariffs are explicitly authorized by Congress through trade pacts or statute‑specific programs. Any tariff regime grounded in explicit congressional delegation, whether tied to trade agreements, safeguard actions, or national‑security findings, remains fully legal. The ruling affects only IEEPA‑based tariffs.

The Bottom Line

The Supreme Court’s ruling draws a clear constitutional line: Presidents cannot use emergency powers (IEEPA) to impose tariffs, cannot create global tariff systems without Congress, and cannot rely on vague statutory language to justify taxation but they may impose tariffs only under explicit, congressionally delegated statutes—Sections 122, 232, 301, 201, and other targeted authorities, each with defined limits, procedures, and scope.

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Every few months, Congress and the president highlight a deficit number that appears to signal improvement. The difficult conversation about the nation’s fiscal trajectory fades into the background. But a shrinking deficit is not necessarily a sign of fiscal health. It measures one year’s gap between revenue and spending. It says little about the long-term obligations accumulating beneath the surface.

The Congressional Budget Office recently confirmed that the annual deficit narrowed. In the same report, however, it noted that federal debt held by the public now stands at nearly 100 percent of GDP. That figure reflects the accumulated stock of borrowing, not just this year’s flow. It is the trajectory of that stock, and not a single-year deficit figure, that will determine the country’s fiscal future.

What the Deficit Doesn’t Show

The deficit is politically attractive because it is simple and headline-friendly. It appears manageable on paper. Both parties have invoked it selectively for decades, celebrating short-term improvements while downplaying long-term drift. But the deeper fiscal story lies elsewhere.

Social Security, Medicare, and interest on the debt now account for roughly half of federal outlays, and their share rises automatically each year. These commitments do not pause for election cycles. They grow with demographics, health costs, and compounding interest.

According to the CBO, those three categories will consume 58 cents of every federal dollar by 2035. Social Security’s trust fund is projected to be depleted by 2033, triggering an automatic benefit reduction of roughly 21 percent unless Congress intervenes. Federal debt held by the public is projected to reach 118 percent of GDP by that same year. A favorable monthly deficit report does not alter any of these structural realities. These projections come from the same nonpartisan budget office lawmakers routinely cite when it supports their position.

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