Let’s Get to Work!

A worker flexes his muscles. Like the worker, we need to build upon the gains we’ve made this summer regarding lowering the voting age to 16.

This summer, I traveled across the U.S. in order to bring greater advocacy to lowering the voting age. I spoke at Tufts University in Boston to bring greater awareness to the issue, and with the help of fellow collaborators, spoke to attendees of our conference during Tuft’s Frontiers of Democracy. Although there is no video recording of the event, members of NYRA(National Youth Rights Association), Children’s Voting Colloquium(CVC) & Generation Vote all contributed to the discussion.

It was also during the summer that we have added a new city, and state no less, to places that have lowered their municipal voting ages: Brattleboro, Vermont is now the 7th American municipality with a voting age of 16!

While this is great news for the movement, we still have pressing issues, such as climate change, gun violence and government dysfunction as we still don’t have a permanent Speaker of the House for two weeks now(Did you know our last Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, supported lowering the voting age to 16- twice? In 2015 & 2019 ). We also have hope of enfranchising a new generation also: House Joint Resolution 16, a legislative bill that can lowering the voting age to 16 nationwide.

We need to use this time to continue the momentum. It has been almost a year since Germany lowered their national voting age to 16, while New Zealand looks like it will be the next democratic country to join that list. We need to do the same for the United States too. I believe that reality is possible thanks to the work of various allies across the U.S. currently working on forming a national coalition of supporters.

That is why I am calling for the formation of a national coalition, the House Joint Resolution 16 Coalition, to continue that momentum to support Rep. Grace Meng’s bill. Anyone from any organization can join. The only prerequisite is to be supportive of lowering the voting age locally, state and/or nationally to 16.

By lowering the voting age now, we can make our public education institutions safer, fight climate change on behalf of young people who will have to live its consequences longer, fight bipartisan gridlock in Congress by allowing young people to vote for dependable representatives who represent their views and fight for better representation in society in general. Our schools are not getting any safer while our climate continues to deteriorate. At the same time, our leadership continues to get older while partisan gridlock continues, even to the point of paralyzing our very own government!

If none of these issues above are disturbing or serve as a wake up call that change should happen, I don’t know what will. Most people reading know someone, if not themselves directly, who is impacted by one, or more of the issues above in addition to other local issues that only affect them. Nothing will change so long as lowering the voting age does not happen. Other nations have already had a lowered voting age for years now. Others are already on that path or have done so recently. So why can’t the United States do the same?

At the same time, we can also enfranchise fellow youth across the country so they can deal with specific issues affecting them. In either case, we all win because democracy would be better while younger people will have a greater say in government. I believe now is the time form a national roundtable group from all the organizations out there to address the various issues that affect young people so they finally get the vote. I also believe we have enough of a diverse network with ample connections to make this happen. But lowering the voting age won’t happen automatically without some effort.

On the 60th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech, lowering the voting age seems even more possible than ever. But that window of opportunity is closing again, so we need to act fast. I believe lowering the voting age now can happen, but only if every supporter of the notion across the U.S. unites together to give the voiceless youth a voice.

Young people deserve a vote, and we will make sure they get that vote.

Jester Jersey