The photo above is from a news station interview I did in August, 2015 in Grand Junction, in western Colorado, where I was a little more than two-thirds of the way back home after starting my walk 2 1/2 months before that on a warm day in May in the heart of New York City. I was holding up a sign that I carried on my back(held with lightweight pvc piping on my backpack), but had rolled up due to rain for a few days.
It would not be until a little more than a month after before I reached my goal of San Francisco on September 5th, 2015. (Photo courtesy of KKCO NBC 11 News)
If someone told me shortly after completing my nationwide walk from New York City to San Francisco near noon of September 5th in 2015 that we would have a Vote16California(or henceforth Vote16CA) on the 10th anniversary of my completed walk, I would think they were the crazy one. If I did so, I would realize that this month, they wouldn’t be so crazy after all because after last month’s Vote16 Convening in L.A., and a meeting of a contingent of interested parties since then, they would be right. As of September 16th, 2025, we now have a coalition of advocates across the state in support of lowering the voting age to 16 working towards the formation of a Vote16CA.
Obviously, because of the novelty of our collaborative effort, I cannot say much yet, other than that we’re on the way to empowering more young people, continuing the vision around the L.A. Convening’s dialogue, and possibly, another Convening later this year.
What I can share as we continue to refine our group is that, unlike previous efforts, we are planning more, researching more & coordinating more, more so than previous efforts. Also, unlike previous, localized efforts, we’re more connected. Don’t get the wording wrong- we’re still working to lower the voting age to 16 in individual cities, but at the same time, there’s a larger consciousness of collaborative will, knowing that each separate city is connecting with a large framework of the movement, by state & nationallly, but also, in some cases, regionally. I am excited to be a part of this growing effort.
Ten years ago(or rather, more than that since I started my walk in May of 2015, 10 years& four months), I set out with several goals in mind, some of which I’ll list here. One of the main ones for lowering the voting age specifically was to bring attention to lowering the voting age to 16, after the success of Takoma Park & Hyattsville, Maryland, then overseas in Scotland, one year prior, in 2014, to a more national level. The second one was to make it back so that I could continue that work after my walk to promote the idea. That was difficult to do because while there were occasionally individuals who supported the idea, they were often few & far between. A Vote16CA helps fulfill that role now because I’m not the only one saying it- there’s half a dozen efforts within the Golden State collaborating together.
For years, I have tried to get national groups to concentrate on working in California, while also supporting efforts outside the state. Organizations have changed leaders. People have lost interest or given up. The political environment changes. Not me. Not after walking from the east coast to the west coast after braving almost every imaginable unfavorable inclement of weather. Also not after getting recognized by politicians for my work, both back then & even within the last year. Now, we have a state effort after three other states before it have succeeded in getting a form of a lowered voting age, either for school board elections or general elections.
Perhaps ten years is a long time to see such change, given that other countries around the world already had this for years before we even had it with Takoma Park. Then again, not too long after that, Berkeley gained the right for school board elections, only to wait nearly a decade to actually put it into practice. Oakland had a far long less wait than Berkeley. Hopefully this time around, now that we’re slowly overcoming obstacles that had mired collaboration around youth enfranchisement, we can make serious headway around lowering the voting age to 16. Obstacles in the way to actually implementing these are being addressed, with most either close to resolution or resolved already.
On a more national front, after Albany becoming the 13th city to lower the voting age in 2024, we’ve already had two other American cities that have done the same thing this year- College Park & Berwyn Heights, both in Maryland. This means we have momentum going for us as cities continue to get added. With more cities declaring success in this endeavor, this will make it harder for cities without “vote 16” policies to remain so. Sooner or later, movements within those cities will spring up as well, much like the cities that have already succeeded at lowering the voting age being influenced by other efforts before them.
Adding new cities is great, but surely other cities outside of Maryland would be great too. I don’t say this as a negative, but rather a way to move towards the next goal post, much like I did trying to get from one city to the next when I walked from coast to coast. The goal to enfranchise shouldn’t stop when one has achieved success in their locality- it should continue when those who’ve succeeded continue the work by helping those who have yet to succeed, much like in the last decade since my walk, I’ve emailed as many supporters of the efforts, connected with several organizations, gone to as many meetings on Zoom, spoken at several conferences & continue the work long after the last mile of my cross-country trek.
Vote16CA is like this- connecting the efforts that have succeeded, to those that have yet to succeed, to also those who have yet to start. It’s not just a sprint- it’s not just a marathon as some have told me- it’s not even just a relay where we pass the baton amongst the team- it’s a combination of all of the above. We really have momentum for us going at this time. We need to take advantage of it.
Here’s to hoping that we don’t have to wait another 10 years to enfranchise the next city- the 16th city to lower the voting age to 16, or the next 14 cities after that, to reach the same level we’re at today.
-Jester Jersey
#16ToVoteAdvocacyProject 