CONCORD, N.H. — Madeleine Paige wanted to make sure her classmates at Exeter High School knew how to register to vote.
“It’s so important for young people to be involved in their communities’ politics, and just starting and registering to vote is a very complicated process,” said Paige, an 18-year-old senior.
That’s why she decided to coordinate a voter registration drive in late May at her high school, where about 45 students from her class of about 340 registered as new voters.
Paige, who is planning to study political science and play softball at University of Rochester in New York this fall, discovered her passion for politics during a semester at the U.S. Senate Page program in Washington, D.C. But she knows that’s not the case for many of her peers.
Her high school is one of about 20 that are hosting a voter registration drive this year, in an attempt to boost the number of young people participating in democracy throughout New Hampshire. Other schools include Oyster River High School in Durham, Manchester West High School, and Sunapee High School.
That’s almost double the number of drives that were organized last year, according to Olivia Zink, executive director of Open Democracy. The democracy-oriented nonprofit helped train high school students about how to put on voter registration drives. Last year, Zink said there were around a dozen drives.
Historically, young people have trailed older segments of the population when it comes to voter turnout. But some research indicates that if young people are registered to vote, they are more likely to show up on election day.
Data analysis by The Civics Center, a nonprofit focused on registering young voters, found that only an estimated 9 percent of 18-year-olds were registered to vote in New Hampshire, as of Dec. 31 weeks ahead of the state’s iconic first-in-the-nation presidential primary.
“Nine percent is the lowest of any state we’ve looked at so far,” said Laura Brill, founder and CEO of The Civics Center.
Brill said New Hampshire policies are to blame for the low numbers, not young people’s apathy.
“New Hampshire is one of the most, if not potentially the most difficult state, in which to register to vote,” she said.
People cannot register online or at the Department of Motor Vehicles. They are required to see an election official in person, often during business hours. Voters in Massachusetts can register online or be automatically registered to vote when getting a license at the Registry of Motor Vehicles. That’s also true in Vermont, Maine, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.
And the timeline of when a young person is eligible to register is tighter in New Hampshire than some other states that allow pre-registration starting as young as 16. Voters who will turn 18 by the general election have to wait until after the primary to register if they’re not of age by then.
New Hampshire’s top election official rejected the claim that New Hampshire makes it too hard.
“It is easy to vote in this state,” Secretary of State David Scanlan said during a presentation about voter confidence Monday.
When asked about the low percentage of registered 18-year-old voters, he pointed to same-day registrations that might not be captured in those rates.
“There are many states where registration has to take place 30 days before the election,” he said.
“College students in New Hampshire procrastinate,” he added. “They get on the bus that’s going around to the polling place. They may not even have been thinking about the election before that.”
In comparison to New Hampshire, voter rates for 18-year-olds are around 25 percent in Pennsylvania and Arizona, 32 percent in Ohio, and around 60 percent in Michigan and Colorado, according to Brill. The Civics Center has found the national rate is around 30 percent.
Of New Hampshire cities and towns, Portsmouth had the highest registration rate, over 26 percent, followed by Hudson (16.3 percent), Concord (14.4 percent), and Salem (13.1 percent). Meanwhile, Pelham, Milford, Derry, and Raymond lagged, with only around 3 percent of 18-year-olds registered in each place.
Registration rates fluctuate as people age out of the category and new people enter it. In October 2022, weeks before the midterm election, statewide registration of 18-year-olds had reached 13.2 percent, The Civics Center found.
But Brill argues it’s an important metric because so many registered 18-year-olds actually show up to vote — 83 percent in the 2022 midterms. In that election, she found, 24 percent of all 18-year-olds in New Hampshire voted.
Brill said while same-day registration helps, it doesn’t compensate for low levels of registration. In New Hampshire’s 2022 midterm, The Civics Center found almost 3,000 18-year-olds registered on election day. That’s still just 17 percent of the 18-year-old population.
And when newcomers register on the same day, she said, they’re likely missing out on other election outreach targeted at known voters.
High school registration drives are also an opportunity to reach the estimated 50 percent of young people in New Hampshire who don’t go on to college.
In Exeter, Paige said her peers were happy the drive took place during the school day. “Some students didn’t even know where their town office was to register,” she said. Others didn’t realize they could register undeclared, and thought they would have to decide if they wanted to vote as a Democrat or a Republican.
“What was important to me was just making sure this was explained,” she said.
Amanda Gokee can be reached at amanda.gokee@globe.com. Follow her @amanda_gokee.