Minnesota state authorities on Tuesday certified the results of last week’s primary election, confirming that it was the lowest voter turnout since 2016.

On August 13, 15 percent of registered voters cast their votes. That corresponds to only 12 percent of all eligible voters. In 2016, 7 percent of eligible voters cast their votes.

“In primaries, so much depends on who or what is on the ballot. If there is a hot contest somewhere, people will come. If not, they probably won’t,” said Steve Simon, Minnesota’s secretary of state.

Voter turnout in this year’s primary election was highest in Stevens County, with an estimated 36.4 percent of registered voters, and lowest in Kittson County, with 5.4 percent.

Figuring out what influences turnout is difficult because every voter is unique, as are the reasons why they vote or don’t vote, said Secretary of State Cassondra Knudson. She also said that turnout in the primary election says nothing about turnout in the general election.

The Secretary of State’s office has partnered with other agencies to launch a recently launched education campaign to increase voter turnout. They will be promoting it at their booth at the Minnesota State Fair, on social media, and through ads on television and radio ahead of the general election this fall.

“If you ask a voter why they didn’t vote, the answer is usually because they didn’t know who was running or they didn’t know where to vote,” says Michelle Witte, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Minnesota.

To reach voters, who include young people, newly naturalized citizens and former prisoners, the 104-year-old organization runs a website with a voter directory that lists all candidates running for office in the state. The bilingual directory covers everything from local soil and water board races to the presidential election. Witte said they also help people understand how elections work and hold hundreds of statewide candidate forums.

Believe In What’s Possible, a much newer organization aimed exclusively at young people, specializes in voter activation. Chelsea Sheldon, organizing and operations director, said they focus on voter participation among 14- to 29-year-olds, with a focus on primaries and organizing events aimed at and led by youth.

The organization invites young people to ask questions and advocate for issues that matter to them, while having a good time with friends and peers.

“I think a lot of the reasons young voters sometimes talk about politics with frustration is because they don’t recognize themselves in these spaces, or simply because these spaces or ballot boxes are places they don’t really want to go,” Sheldon said. “Perhaps there’s a knowledge barrier associated with the political event that they don’t think they have. Perhaps there’s a mandatory donation requirement at the fundraiser for the candidate they care about.”

Believe In What’s Possible hosts concerts and craft nights with free food during the primaries and combines these events with public resources and activities such as a pop-up polling place, a voter handbook or a sample ballot.

Sheldon said that in recent primaries, people were mostly focused on the national candidates and may not have known about elections like the school board election in their local district.

“We need to make sure we’re still engaging voters,” she said. “We’re trying to make sure our generation is engaged in every way that it needs to be this year and beyond.”