A new federal law proposition entitled “Next Generation Votes” hopes to follow in Colorado’s footsteps to increase voter turnout of young people, a notoriously underrepresented group in elections.

The law would allow 16-year-olds to pre-register to vote while getting their license. A law for this had been passed in 2013 in Colorado.

The Colorado Secretary of State’s Office says nearly 156,000 16-and-17-year-olds in Colorado have pre-registered to vote since the law took effect. This in turn has made it so 60% of young people in Colorado voted in last year’s election compared to 30% nationwide.

“And so that they know when they’re 18 and things are perhaps getting lost in the shuffle as they transition into college and so forth, they are automatically registered and don’t have to worry about taking that extra step. And we know, empirical studies show that they are more likely to vote for the rest of their lives if they pre-register to vote,” said Colorado Congressman Joe Neguse.

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