As we all know, the rate of voter participation increases with age.
I realize that this is going to be skewed, as on this board, and especially in this forum, we are all political junkies, and that probably sets in early. Nevertheless.
In the poll, I will set aside a category for 18-20, and 71 or over. Otherwise, it’ll be decades of age.
19, and my first opportunity.
While I’ve skipped some off-year, primary, or local elections now and then, I’ve always cast a vote for President.
20 for my first presidential vote. I think I’ve voted every year since turning 18.
I’d just turned 20 about a month earlier, when I did absentee voting in the 1992 Clinton/Bush election.
My first Presidential election occurred before the voting age was dropped from 21 to 18. In the 1968 election, I was 19, so I had to wait until I was 23 to vote for President.
20 in November 1980. I vote every chance I get, even though I live in a place so thoroughly Democratic that my vote is close to meaningless. I suppose I should move to Cody, Wyoming.
Proudly voted for Jimmy Carter in 1976 and for every Democratic candidate following, from the minute I became eligible until the day I die.
I was 17 in '92, so my first opportunity to cast a presidential ballot (and my first casting of said ballot) was in '96.
I was 18 in 1972, and though I was a Republican, I couldn’t see voting for Nixon. (An intuition that would be confirmed in a big way in the spring of 1973.) So I sat that one out.
It seems like the better age categories would be every four years: 18-21, 22-25, 26-29, and so on. There’s no meaningful difference between someone who first voted at 21 and someone who first voted at 18, assuming they both started on Presidential elections: Both voted the first chance they got.
Well, that’s true. Had I thought of it, I could have staggered the beginning two or three categories a bit better. I wanted a separate option for 18-20 because that change happened (relatively) recently. I wouldn’t change it past 30 though; I wouldn’t want the poll to be a mile long.
I was expecting skewed, but not quite this skewed. Eleven 18-20, and six 21-30.
I missed the 1968 election by two months. I was 20 at the time. Had to wait to 1972 when I was 24.
I first got to vote in a special election in the spring of 1969. I’ve missed a few library board elections and maybe a school board election, or two, since, but otherwise I always vote if given a chance.
I was a Jehovah’s Witness for 30 years and didn’t vote, so my first presidential vote was in 2000 at the age of 48.
19, in the 1984 presidential election. The polls in Wisconsin closed at 8pm; my roommate and I arrived at the polls (the basement of the cafeteria at our dorm) around 6, and there was a long line. When it became clear that the line wouldn’t make it through before 8pm, an election judge came out to assure us that, as long as we were in line by 8, we had the right to vote, and they’d stay open until everyone had voted.
We finally got through the voting booth around 8:30; as we were leaving, there were several election judges clustered around a little portable television. “Yeah, Reagan has won 24 states already…Mondale has Minnesota.” 
I turned 18 in 1982, and voted in the midterms in the state where I was at school. First presidential election was at age 20, when I was one of the 3 people who voted for Mondale. Except for a few primaries and local elections, I’ve voted every election since.
Tonight, I will attend the Colorado Democratic caucus for the first time. Should be interesting.
I had just turned 18 two months before the election of 2004, so I voted in that election for Dubya. Were I the same person as back then, I’d probably be in the Trump camp. Praise Cthulhu that I [del]grew up[/del] changed! Probably the biggest factor in that change was this site here, so I owe y’all a lot.
Well… my first Presidential election was the 1992 election, but that wasn’t the first election I voted in by a long shot. IIRC, the first election I voted in was the 1990 mid-term election for pretty much everything BUT President.
That’s the problem- the elections you vote in (assuming you vote as often as you can) may slot into different categories based on where your birthdate is in relation to the elections. I was born just before a Presidential election, so my 18th birthday came up almost squarely between Presidential elections, but right before a big mid-term election.
I’d think that maybe there should be a companion poll- maybe a “how much time elapsed between registering to vote and actually voting in your first election” type poll, with values for like “<1 month”, “1-6 months”, “6-12” months, “> 12 months”.
JWs don’t vote?
No, they are prohibited from taking part in politics. They believe that Christians must be absolutely neutral with regard to political matters, because Jesus said His followers were “no part of the world.” (though this does raise the question as to why they are permitted to be “part of the world” by engaging in “worldly” business affairs - like operating a business or holding a job). They also don’t serve in the military, salute the flag or stand for the national anthem.
I’m 26 and I’ve never voted in any election
All politicians are phonies