Henal Patel of the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, a group that worked to register teens, doesn’t want to draw any conclusions until all the votes are counted, but she said holding teens to higher standard than adults in turnout is unfair.
“As of now, all we know is that almost 2,000 16- and 17-year-olds registered. It’s important and a good sign of civic engagement,” Patel told me. She also compared it to early in-person voting, which was little-used until November, when it took off. “Let’s give them some grace. They are completely new to this process. They are learning. The numbers will only grow.”