AUSTIN — Millennials turned out in droves for marches last weekend to protest President Donald Trump’s rhetoric and policies. But when it comes to voting for mayor, the generation leaves decision making to older folks.

Voting-eligible residents age 65 and older are seven times likelier to vote in local elections than those ages 18 to 34, according to Portland State University researchers.

A survey of mayoral contests in 30 large cities showed millennial voters in Texas among the most flagrant absentees. Their participation in recent mayoral contests was 1.1 percent in Fort Worth and 7.8 percent in Austin.

Reed Vrana, 21, a government major at the University of Texas, said he voted in a local election last year on regulating ride-hailing services such as Uber.

Otherwise, he said, “That’s it.”

Given the impact of local government on bread-and-butter issues such as housing, transportation and policing, that’s just not good enough, said Phil Keisling, director of Portland State’s Center for Public Service.

In some parts of Fort Worth, participation of millennials eligible to vote in the recent municipal election was zero, he said.

“They have been unilaterally disarming themselves,” said the former Oregon lawmaker and secretary of state. “This is a crisis. When democracy becomes a spectator sport, it’s dangerous place to be.”

Last fall’s state and national elections garnered far more interest.

Half of eligible voters between ages 18 and 29 nationally cast a ballot, which was slightly less than the 58 percent mark for all voters, according to exit poll data.

In Texas, about 29 percent of the November ballots were marked by millennial hands.

But races for county and city office get a shrug.

A prevailing explanation is lack of outreach, said Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg, who heads the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University.

It creates a vicious cycle, she noted, because unless people vote, “politicians don’t think of you as their constituents.”

Outreach — and lobbying — clearly made a difference in the vote on ride-hailing services in Austin. The west mall at UT was blanketed by tables with literature on the election.

“There was so much lobbying, it made an entire generation go out and support it,” said  Margaret Berno, 19, a finance major.

But Berno said she “probably didn’t” vote in the city’s mayoral election last November.

Oliver Scales, 21, a public relations major, said high school teachers “told us a little bit” about the importance of local elections. But, he said, “they didn’t teach us, vote for your mayor.”

Kawashima-Ginsberg acknowledges that civics classes tend to focus on federal government. Still, there are attempts to stir interest among younger voters.

In 2013, Takoma Park, Maryland, held the first U.S. local election in which 16-year-olds participated.

Keisling advocates getting rid of traditional polling places and instead mailing ballots to voters.

“When every voter has a ballot at home, they don’t have to worry about waiting in line,” he said. “There are no lines in Oregon. They’ve gone the way of the dodo bird.

“I don’t think the Texas Legislature will do it, but someone should make a heck of a ruckus about it,” he added.

Charles Zug, 23, a UT graduate student who grew up in the state of Washington, said the only local election he’s ever voted in involved a mail-in ballot.

In Austin, he said, “I couldn’t tell you who the mayor is.”

Texas, as Keisling suggests, may well be a long way from sending ballots to voters of all ages.

But there are efforts here to create a voting culture.

Generation Citizen, a non-profit group that brings what it calls “action civics” to middle and high schools, opens next week in 15 Austin and Bastrop classrooms.

“Our programs are really focused on local politics, where they can make the most impact,” said co-founder and CEO Paul Warren. “If young people don’t participate, politicians are not going to pay attention to issues that affect young people.”

Meredith Norris, who heads the Austin operation for Generation Citizen, said it will focus on schools with heavy minority and low-income enrollments.

The group came to Austin at the behest of the city, she said.

A former teacher in San Francisco, Norris said she saw the program work in her own classroom.

Her students focused on getting safety monitors for the dangerous public buses they rode to school. In a meeting with the local transit director, she said, the students learned the system “had just forgotten” about monitors, who were subsequently added.

“Those were eighth-graders,” she said.

Keisling said he reminds people that all politics is local.

“When politicians look out and see that the median age of those who vote is 60, you pay attention to the ones that vote,” he said.

John Austin covers the Texas Statehouse for CNHI’s newspapers and websites. Reach him at jaustin@cnhi.com