Some basic numbers for those looking for election numbers.

With all the talk of the Obama wave of young voters, I thought it might be prudent to see just how much young voters have participated in the past.

The largest percentage of 18-24 year olds voting was 1972, the first presidential year they could vote and when the draft for the Vietnam War was an issue.

The following table was gleaned from the U.S. Bureau of Census Historic Time Series Tables of Voting and Registration by Race, Hispanic Origin, Sex, and Age Groups: November 1964 to 2006. The table is in Excel format and CSV.

Year	Total voting-age population	Voter turnout by Percentage
		Total population	18-24	25-44	45-64	65- Older
			Years	Years	Years	Years
Voted
2006	220,603	43.6	19.9	34.4	54.3	60.5
2004	215,694	58.3	41.9	52.2	66.6	68.9
2002	210,421	42.3	17.2	34.1	53.1	61.0
2000	202,609	54.7	32.3	49.8	64.1	67.6
1998	198,228	41.9	16.6	34.8	53.6	59.5
1996	193,651	54.2	32.4	49.2	64.4	67.0
1994	190,267	45.0	20.1	39.4	56.7	61.3
1992	185,684	61.3	42.8	58.3	70.0	70.1
1990	182,118	45.0	20.4	40.7	55.8	60.3
1988	178,098	57.4	36.2	54.0	67.9	68.8
1986	173,890	46.0	21.9	41.4	58.7	60.9
1984	169,963	59.9	40.8	58.4	69.8	67.7
1982	165,483	48.5	24.8	45.4	62.2	59.9
1980	157,085	59.3	39.9	58.7	69.3	65.1
1978	151,646	45.9	23.5	43.1	58.5	55.9
1976	146,548	59.2	42.2	58.7	68.7	62.2
1974	141,299	44.7	23.8	42.2	56.9	51.4
1972	136,203	63.0	49.6	62.7	70.8	63.5
1970	120,701	54.6	30.4	51.9	64.2	57.0
1968	116,535	67.8	50.4	66.6	74.9	65.8
1966	112,800	55.4	31.1	53.1	64.5	56.1
1964	110,604	69.3	50.9	69.0	75.9	66.3
* 1972 is the first year 18-21 year olds could vote in national elections.
* Note that since the 26th Amendment was approved in 1971 the
the 18-24 year old group has always been less than 50 percent.
Figures courtesty of the U.S. Census Bureau