The election just got a lot more interesting. It's inspiring young voters to register.

Move over Taylor Swift. Vice President Kamala Harris may be one-upping you ‒ at voter registration anyway.

Last September on National Voter Registration Day , Swift set a record by encouraging more than 30,000 people to register in a single day .

But in the first 48 hours after President Joe Biden bowed out of his bid for reelection and Harris announced she was running in his place, more than 38,500 registered, according to Vote.org , a nonpartisan platform that encourages voter registration.

As of Friday morning, the figure had surged past 100,000.

Voters under 35 make up nearly 85% of the new voters registering on Vote.org and 18-year-old voters alone make up 18%. Typically about 80% of those who register on the website actually cast a ballot.

Vote.org registered 27,077 voters the week before, beginning the day of the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump and including Trump's choice of Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance as his running mate and both becoming the Republican party's official nominees.

In the 2020 election, about 48% of eligible voters aged 18 to 29 cast a ballot, compared with 73% of people aged 65 to 74. In 2016 only about 40% of young people voted.

Pollsters and others had noted that younger voters were tuning out of the rematch between Biden and Trump. A number described themselves as "double-haters," or said they planned to turn to independent candidates if they'd bother to get off the couch at all.

An analysis published earlier this month by Tufts University found youth registration lagging in most of the 36 states examined. In every state for which they had data, they found fewer 18- and 19-year-olds registered now than in November, 2020, according to the report by CIRCLE, the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, is a non-partisan, independent research organization focused on youth civic engagement in the United States.

“There are over 8 million young adults who have or will turn 18 between the midterm and presidential elections. It's critical that we make sure that young people, regardless of their zip code, race and ethnicity, education, and other experiences, have an entry point to way for their voice to be heard in our collective decision-making," Abby Kiesa, CIRCLE's deputy director told USA TODAY via email. "Young people might need different entry points ‒ maybe it's a candidate, maybe it's an issue, maybe it's through a fandom, or through a family member ‒ and different types of support given the varied steps within state systems.

The new registration numbers suggest young people may be starting to tune into this fall's race.

“An engaged electorate is the cornerstone of a healthy democracy, and this continued wave of voter enthusiasm shows that Americans are determined to make their voices heard," Andrea Hailey, CEO of Vote.org , said in an emailed statement to USA TODAY. "The surge of youth engagement is a strong indication that the next generation is motivated to show up this November."

Karen Weintraub can be reached at kweintraub@usatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: The election just got a lot more interesting. It's inspiring young voters to register.