The deadline for issuing the voter registration card, and Brazil appears to be on track to record the worst participation rate for teenagers aged 16 and 17 in one since at least 2014.
In 2022, more than 2.5 million young people aged 16 and 17 had requested the issuance of their voter registration cards by the month of May.
In 2026, a projection by Instituto Lamparina and based on monthly data from the Superior Electoral Court () indicates that between 1.44 million and 1.6 million young people aged 16 and 17 must register to vote by the end of the deadline.
The number represents around 27.6% of the population of adolescents of these ages in the country, which is below the percentages recorded in 2014 (33.7%), 2018 (31%) and 2022 (41.2%).
The data used in the Girl Up Brasil projection is from young people who requested their titles by May of each election year. The data consolidated by the TSE on voters eligible to vote in this age group is always a little different because it disregards those voters who requested the title at age 17, but turned 18 before the first round, in October.
Four years ago, the scenario seemed to be heading in the same direction. In February 2022, only 830,000 teenagers had requested a voter registration card, the worst start to a historical series for the group. . Voting in this age group is optional.
“and we ended with the best May”, says Letícia Bahia, executive co-director of Girl Up Brasil, an initiative aimed at training female leaders and promoting gender equality. “The angle of the turn was completely atypical.”
The change, in that electoral cycle, occurred after a digital mobilization in defense of the youth vote that transformed enlistment into a social media phenomenon.
Influencers and artists such as singer Anitta and actors Leonardo Di Caprio and Mark Ruffalo promoted campaigns to encourage teenagers to issue the document before the deadline.
For Letícia Bahia, the record growth in 2022 occurred less due to institutional action, such as the TSE campaigns, and more due to pressure from civil society and young people themselves.
At the end of the deadline, more than 2.1 million teenagers were eligible to vote, which marked a record for participation in this age group since redemocratization.
The fact that, that year, it was possible to digitally submit the request to issue a voter registration card facilitated the sudden change. In 2026, the need to register the biometrics of new voters meant that it would only be possible to complete the title application in person.
In 2020, amid the health restrictions of the Covid 19 pandemic, the TSE began to allow the document to be issued online and temporarily suspended the requirement for in-person biometrics. The measure expanded access in regions without electoral offices and reduced logistical barriers for teenagers.
“Thousands of municipalities do not have an electoral registry,” says Bahia. “The barrier to in-person enlistment is physical.”
In 2026, although part of the procedure remains digital, biometric collection will once again be required for new voters. Instituto Lamparina and GirlUp Brasil estimate that the resumption of the in-person phase may have contributed to slowing down enlistment.
“The significant increase in 2022 showed that young people from Generation Z want to participate. When the process becomes more accessible, they respond. The challenge now is to prevent bureaucratic or technological barriers from silencing this participation”, says Gabi Juns, executive director of Instituto Lamparina, an organization led by women that works in research and campaigns.
Letícia Bahia believes that the decline is worrying because electoral turnout is one of the important metrics of democracy. “If we are worried about democratic erosion, we should look more into this”, he assesses.
