Today is Celebrate Your Elected Officials Day. Our elected officials don’t always get the recognition, so we at the House Joint Resolution Coalition want to say “Thank You” to all our elected officials!
Jester Jersey
We Celebrate Our Officials
Third Time’s The Charm
Last year, I along with a team of fellow youth rights advocates from various organizations convened a panel for the second year in a row at the prestigious Frontiers of Democracy Conference held at Tuft’s University each year.
The conference theme was combatting violence in our modern era. Our panel talked about the need for younger people to have an outlet to voice their opinions, but also went one step further to state that people who don’t already have a vote should not just have a vote only, but also play a role in changing their immediate environment.
The conference panel was so popular that even Rep. Grace Meng herself, the member of the House of Representatives and current author of a national bill to lower the federal voting age, personally liked our team’s announcement of our panel.
This year, we’re working with even more youth advocates from organizations we haven’t worked with before. Shortly after our panel last summer, the city of Albany in California became the thirteenth city in the U.S. with a form of voting at 16. With the addition of Albany, there are now three states with Earlier this year, College Park in Maryland became the fourteenth city to do so. More efforts are continually arising. Efforts like our recent conference panels are raising awareness among people as well as inspiring fellow advocates in the work they’re doing. That is why we continue to do what we’re doing- to raise more awareness & to empower a new generation of leaders.
At this year’s conference, the third that’s been convened discussing the topic of lowering the voting age, we want to continue pushing for youth enfranchisement. With Albany now adding another city name to the list, it will only be a matter of time until more cities, along with states possibly, to be added to that list.
We Still Need Paul Revere…s Of Today
Paul Revere during his midnight ride, as depicted in many history books across the country. What most don’t often also acknowledge are his two helpers, William Dawes and Samuel Prescott, who also alerted fellow colonists as well.
Two hundred fifty years ago today, Paul Revere, along with William Dawes and Samuel Prescott, traveled across the colonies shortly after midnight on April 18th, 1775 to warn colonists of the impending arrival of the British Imperial navy who had imposed tea taxes on goods and were now threatening to enforce those “tariffs” on the colonists. However, many had feared that it wouldn’t just be enforcement, but also reabsorption to the British Empire rather than a separate entity, the fledgling country we now know as the United States of America. It would not be until more than year later that the fledgling nation we call home today would draft the Declaration of Independence, creating a country by the people and for the people, and needing to engage in one of the most brutal conflicts known to history.
Today, in 2025, one could see the similar parallels with our country today- youths, despite more than a dozen cities having lowered the voting age to 16(municipal elections, more cities with school board elections) and youth still paying taxes on income from employment(see my Tax Day blog entry), not all 16 year-olds can vote.
For the last few years, I’ve been working to help change that through the Frontiers of the Democracy conference, where I and several organizations have been bringing the issue to the forefront of discussion so that more groups can open discussion around the concept, and like Albany and College Park, actually enfranchise young people.
This year, our team wants to add more voices, from diverse groups across the country, across the age spectrum- organization leaders, mentors, supporters, but most importantly, the young voters themselves. But we need your help- to consider joining our youth voting panel.
It may be 2025, but we still need Paul Reveres, and Paula Reveres too. While we may be still be living in the greatest democracy in the world, the last few months and the current political climate don’t seem to make it seem like it. On top of that, we young people still continue to be alienated from the ballot box in most places across the country. If you’re reading, you can not only make the country better and fill a larger-than-life role, but also do it on the 250th anniversary year at one of the places Paul Revere is most known for and the place where the Boston Tea Party took place- Boston itself.
Most who receive this will have my email and my Twitter account is below, with a post liked by Grace Meng herself- the actual author of House Joint Resolution 16 to empower young people across the country, found here, so I am not that hard to reach. If you want to help or even just know someone who want to help, please pass on this information to them.
Thanks for reading, fellow patriots.
Jester Jersey
Still Taxed, Still Not Represented
A graphic of The British Tax Tea that appeared on the Revolutionary War Magazine during the Revolutionary War Period. These events are what sparked the eventual conflict known as the American Revolution.
Yesterday, we marked the end of another tax season, where the employed once again pay their fair share of taxes. That includes 16 year-olds, many of whom are working their first job(sometimes a second one too), saving up to attend college, or helping their parents weather the current economic climate. Yet they still don’t have a vote, which is sadly disappointing.
Yesterday, we marked the end of another tax season, where the employed once again pay their fair share of taxes. That includes 16 year-olds, many of whom are working their first job(sometimes a second one too), saving up to attend college, or helping their parents weather the current economic climate. Yet they still don’t have a vote, which is sadly disappointing.
After College Park’s recent achievement to lower the voting age to 16, making it the fourteenth in the country to do so, we should have way more cities. Unfortunately, we do not. It has been more than a decade since the first city in the country, Takoma Park, did so, yet, in addition to Albany in California last November, the thirteenth city to lower its municipal voting age to 16, we’ve hardly scratched the surface despite numerous national organizations, support from a former Speaker of the House and continued efforts across various regions in the U.S. More needs to be done to empower young people.
Jester Jersey
Improve Democracy- Lover the Voting Age
We’ve only been four months removed from a historic national election that many people are having mixed thoughts about. However, once again, we still did not have any participation by 16 year-old voters.
I’m going to keep today’s post short & sweet- if you’d like to see a repeat of the 2024 national election, then let’s all keep doing the same. But if you’d like to see real change, make democracy better, more representative & something better for the country than what we’ve had the last few decades, then please read last month’s blog & connect with me there.
Jester Jersey
Literally, Fellowship of the Ring
The logo for the Ring app. I think it is time for a more organized, collaborative effort to lower the voting age to 16– collaboration between local & national efforts.
Rather than repeat many of the same points I mentioned in last month’s post regarding the vote 16 movement, I would like to talk about a new platform, one that will unite local efforts, like those that have succeeded in Albany, CA last year, to more national efforts, like we’ve seen with House Joint Resolution 16 as well as other national groups. It will be on the RingApp.
For years, I have tried to bring different groups across the country together to collaborate on some form of national messaging to lower the voting age to 16, but that has been difficult because of not only the different kinds of efforts being undertaken (general elections/school board elections) but also the vast geographic regions involved(multiple efforts across many cities in several states across both coasts as well as efforts in the midwest). Adding to that challenge is finding individuals among various organizations that may not be focused on lowering the voting age to 16, but are sympathetic to the idea or have expressed support. However, that challenge to unite us with the common goal of empowering young people no matter their location within the United States has just been bridged- through the Ring app. I will highlight the case for the app below.
Years ago, when I worked with another smaller group, the RingCentral app, or Ring for short, was heavily used for communication. Unfortunately, because membership was so small, with many members now having left the group and general inactivity brought on by the pandemic, it has fallen into disuse, so I no longer have access to it. However, I appreciated both the simplicity as well as the utility value of the Ring app. I think it can prove effective as a platform for supporters of lowering the voting age. Now, I want to build a national coalition of allies, supporters, activists & others with an interest in lowering the national voting age in order to make the country even better.
Earlier this year, a new version of the House Joint Resolution 16 Bill that was previously championed by Rep. Grace Meng of NY, has been introduced to the House of Representatives. It is unfortunate that the previous bill never received a vote in Congress, despite national efforts to bring attention to the bill(more on that below). However with this new bill, that means the efforts to continue empowering young people with a vote, potentially enfranchising a newer, younger bloc of voters in the next set of election cycles, can continue to be mobilized. This also means that there’s plenty of work that needs to be done, requiring the help of people of various levels to pitch in. This is why it is crucial that there be some platform where supporters of the voting age efforts can convene on, rather than work separately.
With successes in Albany, CA but also cities like Berkeley & Oakland finally being able to start their voting processes, albeit for the school board level, as well as Newark in New Jersey which has joined that list of cities with some form of youth suffrage, we now have a little more than a dozen cities that have empowered young people even more than the average city across the country.
But that’s still not enough. We need more young voices involved in politics. That’s why we need more of an effort on the part of non-politicians to be supportive of bills like HJR16, supportive of local efforts, more media coverage, etc. Without these elements, we will continue to see repeat cycles of 2024’s elections again, and again, and again- next to no representation of young people nor of their issues.
With the help of several contacts in the field who are supportive of lowering the voting age to 16, I along with their networks are slowly but surely building a national resource hub for all supporters of lowering the voting age, whether you’re an organization director, a politician aid, a member of a supportive youth organization or someone who has just joined the effort- we want you to join our movement.
I’m not that hard to reach- I help run the account featured in this post that was liked by Rep. Grace Meng, the same author of the previous bill as well as the is current version of HJR 16. You can send me a DM there. Not on X/Twitter? I’m well-known in the voting age effort circles, so they can likely connect you to me by email. You can also comment on this blog if you’d like to reach out.
What we supporters of lowering the voting age do between now & the next election that counts, and potentially affect the next set of elections, will largely depend on how effectively we collaborate as people who support empowering young people in the near future. While there had been national efforts to bring attention to the issue, many unfortunately do not continue for one reason or another. This is sadly disappointing for not just the young people who go without a vote, but also the communities that need their voices. Democracy as it is today cannot keep ignoring the voices of young people if it is to see any hope of improving. The way things are, it would be miraculous if we even have a semblance of democracy left in the next few years with the way things are going- let alone imagine how things might go the next few years.
Without collaboration, we will accomplish nothing- nothing will get better, nothing will improve. Just more of the same. I cannot accomplish this alone, nor can any organization no matter how big can do this alone. We all need each other’s help, but we also need to help each other in a coordinated, collaborative manner.
Happy President’s Day weekend to those reading today, or have a great week for everyone else.
-Jester Jersey
Next Steps in 2025
Happy new year to readers across the country. If there’s any indication of the growing efforts around lowering the voting age awareness efforts from last year, the next few years are really hopeful, particularly 2025.
There’s both good news & bad news when it comes to the national efforts to lowering the voting age to 16. While the bad news appears to be that we unfortunately won’t get a vote on the existing House Joint Resolution 16 bill authored by Rep. Grace Meng, the good news is we can count on a new iteration of the bill shortly after the new Congress, the 119th Congress, is formally installed later this month (Grace Meng personally liked our post on Twitter/X as we were building our team at last year’s Frontiers of Democracy in Boston).
The youth voting efforts as a whole, both national as well as local, regional and/or municipal level, cannot come at a more crucial time: we all saw the outcome of the 2024 presidential election. Unless you’ve been living under a political rock for either an extended period of time or since the beginning of time, this development doesn’t bode well for many social issues that either affect youth in the immediate future, i.e. gun violence or in the long term, such as climate change, based on previous voting patterns of those aligned with the current incoming administration’s party’s ideals.
That is not to say that efforts around dialogue on lowering the voting age would be futile. Actually, the current developments would make the efforts even more conducive than if the reverse outcome of the election had happened. One should not also be tied down with the notion that lowering the voting age is a partisan issue- at times, it can also achieve bipartisan support, as mentioned in this article.
While efforts at the local level are important, so is national dialogue, as these issues are not limited to any one geographical location. Nor is the issue of lowering the voting age, as we’ve seen efforts nationally(HJR16) as well as locally(MD, VT, CA, NJ, etc.).
It is crucial- it is imperative, that there be some collaboration & coordination among both organizations as well as individuals. Now more than ever compared to previous elections cycles. Also, while local efforts may be accomplished by smaller or even one organization, maybe even by a small group of determined individuals like with Albany CA, a national effort definitely would not. It would require a diverse team of people, working with several organizations. This is so totally doable at this time, yet few have even tried doing so.
Obviously, this is costing us big time in terms of youth not being adequately being represented because they’re not voting but also finding solutions for issues that aren’t limited to just affecting young people.
One shouldn’t have to look further than my own work on a microscopic scale, such as when I was able to bring several partners from multiple organizations to coordinate on a panel in Boston during the Frontiers of Democracy Conference, highlighting the importance of lowering the voting age at the national level but also the diversity of those who support working towards achieving that goal.
I believe that local & national efforts, when conducted in synchronicity, can have positive effects for both. By making the issue more mainstream, a topic of discussion as well as discussing the possible solutions to the problem. Some efforts have worked better than some, but it is also why collaboration is crucial so that we can learn what worked, what didn’t & how that would be applicable to all ongoing efforts. There’s also a need for post-success collaboration, because as we’ve also seen with Oakland & Berkeley, implementation is a challenge that many go through.
Assuming we get another iteration of Meng’s bill with this incoming Congress like we’ve had with previous Congresses, a national coordinated effort would make the most sense in light of that. The other option would be to continue the same strategy we’ve been doing, with some success, at a slower rate, for which, in the case of Berkeley & Oakland that had lowered their school board voting age to 16 in 2016 & 2020, respectively, then we’ll likely see the same presidential rerun outcome of 2024 in both presidential elections years as well as midterms. If you’re all for that latter potion the next few years, I suggest sticking with that. However, if you’d like a more streamlined approach, one that takes advantage of recent gains such as the finally implemented school board voting in Berkeley & Oakland, or Brattleboro, VT, or Albany, CA for general elections, or even international places, like Germany & Belgium, who have recently lowered their national voting age as well the last two years, then I’m all for it. We can talk.
Whether or not the U.S. sees a rerun of the 2024 presidential election will depend on what supporters of this issue do between now & the next big election. I always hear talks about people wanting to support the idea of lowering the national voting age to 16 or for HJR 16, but little actual action towards those goals. What I do see at the same time, though, is plenty of complaining that “Congress is not representative of younger people” or “Congress isn’t looking at issues that particularly affect youth(see above)” or whatever other grievance that a lowered voting age could address.
Just know that if supporters of lowering the voting age again fail to organize around the movement like we’ve seen in previous years, then proceed to complain about how a future election’s outcome isn’t “representative of their needs”, I’ll the be the first to say “I told you so” if a lowered voting age could have changed the outcome.
Being the eve of Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, I want close with one of his most famous quotes of the civil rights movement. Just as it was the right thing to do to fight for just in King’s time, when he said that “The time is always right to do what is right”, so I tell readers today that fighting for lowering the voting age to 16 in all its forms is the right thing to do right now.
Albany, CA; #16ToVote in 2025
Albany, CA recently lowered its voting age to 16, adding a third state with a municipal voting age of 16
Youth Vote Awareness Day in Brattleboro, Vermont- Complete!!
Photo still of me shortly after my lecture to attending youth in the parlor of the Centre Congregational Church on Nov. 16, 2024. Photo courtesy of Brattleboro Community TV.
We just wrapped up the Youth Vote Awareness Day here in Brattleboro moments ago, getting coverage from one of the local stations, speaking to one of the youth groups in the town about the national efforts to lower the voting age & empowering more youth during this post election season.
From early morning to midafternoon, I spoke with youth about not only one of their fortunate proximity to one of the fewest cities across the United States that had a municipal voting age of 16, but also how they can help with the national efforts with House Joint Resolution 16(HJR16), the bill by Congressman Grace Meng to lower the federal voting age to 16.
Most of the time was engaged in serious dialogue with the youth who attended, even some who weren’t old enough to vote, but still endorsed the idea. We also had ice cream donated by Ben & Jerry’s to feed the youth while our local organization, Brattleboro Common Sense, brought finger snacks as well as pizza for lunch.
Not only did the event bring more awareness of the national bill to lower the voting age, but it also helped start local discussion about some of the ways young people felt being empowered as one of the few cities to have a lower voting age for both municipal elections and for school board elections.
As of this writing, a few days after the Youth Vote Awareness Day, the city of Albany, CA had lowered their municipal voting age to 16. Other efforts across the country continue to grow as other movements continue to increase in awareness of HJR16. More efforts are being planned to coordinate with other efforts on the ground to try to not only support regional effort to lower the voting age, but also support a more national effort.
Here is a video from the event that readers can watch to see more about the event. If you would like to coordinate with local efforts to lower the voting age to 16 as well as help the national effort as well, our Twitter contacts are below.
Twitter/X @16ToVoteProject
We Have An Awareness Day- In Brattleboro!!
#16ToVoteAdvocacyProject 