A photo of the recent total solar eclipse from April of this year. Predicting efforts to lower the voting age just might be more easier thanks to the recent momentum & victories the concept has had in other global democracies as well as local efforts here in the United States.
Some opportunities come once in a lifetime, while others may come a few times. Others come with frequencies somewhere in between the two. Depending on what that opportunity is, for some it may come often while for others it might not come often enough. For lowering the voting age, 2024 is that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Earlier this year on April 8th, we saw the first total solar eclipse to happen in North America since 2017. While seven years may not seem like a very long time, when you consider that the next one won’t happen until August 2044, twenty years from now. Although total solar eclipses do come with some frequency, the path they take and their regularity aren’t predictable- they don’t come in predictable time frames(every 5 years, or 10 years etc). So in some ways, you can predict that they will happen eventually but, without the precise calculations scientific experts like astronomers, mathematicians and other scientists, you can’t pinpoint the next exact time it will occur. Thankfully, we have experts who’ve already figured that out down to a science. However, without those experts, we wouldn’t know when the next one will happen.
How does this this compare to the voting age movement? There are many parallels you can use to compare the two. For example, Takoma Park in Maryland became the first city to lower the voting age to 16 back in 2013. As of last summer, 2023, we now have seven cities spanning across two different states(Maryland & Vermont). If you include cities that have lowered the voting age for school board elections, then you have four(California & New Jersey are on that list). If you include cities that have some sort of movement towards lowering the voting age of any kind, then you have many, many more. Those are just local efforts, not looking at House Joint Resolution 16, the congressional bill to lower the national federal voting age, which is the focus of this month’s blog post, but also a uniting point for many supporters who are working tirelessly around the country to empower their local youth.
The voting age movement is by no means new. However, we have many great people engaged in the effort that are not organized into “scientific experts” like they are with the eclipse phenomenon mentioned above. Many of us work in volunteer roles, some with organizations & some alone, in addition to our everyday jobs & family responsibilities. But we’re united in our efforts to bring more awareness of the cause no matter where we’re located.
Several days after this year’s total solar eclipse, I wrote both a Twitter post & a monthly entry on my Vote 16 blog, something I’ve been working on for more than a decade. I write a post each month on any update connected to lowering the voting age, even covering international stories if relevant. However, I make the blog accessible for people who don’t already subscribe by also making an announcement on Twitter. The latter helps because people can not only look up the #16ToVote hashtag where I’ve posted previous editions of the blog, but I can also tag relevant people to them that I can’t tag on the blog itself. April’s edition just happens to have relevant info to several users, one of which being Rep. Grace Meng of New York.
I’ve written these entries with regularity for nearly a decade, and have tagged Rep. Grace Meng in some of those posts in recent years, including previous iterations of HJR 16, such as HJR 23 that was written in 2021, which was introduced in Congress during the height of the COVID pandemic but did not receive a formal vote during that congressional term. Congress was not only preoccupied with the pandemic, but the aftermath of January 6th, something that not only impacted all members of Congress & the Sentate, but also Rep. Meng personally. Many of her colleagues were the same way.
In all the years I’ve tagged Rep. Meng on these Twitter posts, not a single time has Meng interacted with any of these posts. Not once. Until April of this year, when she liked this post that I’ve shared around.
Due to recent changes at Twitter, besides wanting to be referred to as X, likes have now become private, so only the original poster is able to see who has liked their post, even if others are logged in & follow the account. However, I’ve found a workaround for it by making a short video showing who has liked the post. I’ve posted the video on Veoh, so even if you don’t use Twitter, you can see the video of the post I’m referring to. Even those with an account who are not logged in can’t see it, and as of June even those with an account couldn’t see it while logged in. Now, anyone can see it, though you still need a Twitter account to interact with the actual post.
The fact that with have a national bill, HJR 16, and that the very author of that very bill in Congress, Rep. Meng, liked my Tweet, shows that we have momentum on our side, and the people behind these efforts to empower young people in government leadership are aware of our own work around this. You can refer to my previous posts in the last year on my blog as to why we have the momentum- my posts have covered many efforts around the U.S. as well as international news, so much of these pieces of documentation point to the momentum being on our side. I think we can make a very good case on lowering the voting age in 2024, rather than wait at some time in the future, like the next total solar eclipse. One can say, astronomically & figuratively speaking, that “The stars are aligning” in regards to the movement to lower the voting age. That does not mean it will happen automatically nor will it happen if we do not work together to make it happen.
While enthusiasm & momentum can’t be measured like calculating eclipse schedules through mathematical models & science, I can guarantee as an activist who has worked with others over the years to lower the voting age in local & national efforts that 2024 is the year we can generate change– if fellow supporters can get behind the planned advocacy day we’re working on & work together as one to call for a lower age in both local as well as national elections. We can make a reality that is only realized in only a few places in the country & something that many supporters like me have worked on for so many years happen.
I believe lowering the voting age to 16 can very well happen- in 2024. But I also know I cannot do this alone. No one can do this alone, whether a person or organization. It will take a village to do so- a village of voting age supporters, generating enough awareness so that others can also support the issue. This is why would like to ask for your help to make that happen.
I encourage all supporters, regardless of where you’re located, to get in touch with me so that we can bring more awareness to both local efforts as well as this national effort. Thank you.
Jester Jersey
jjersey96@gmail.com
#16ToVoteAdvocacyProject 