Raising Voices...and Voters

In a recent conversation with a neighborhood teen, she told me she had several friends of voting age who were NOT planning to vote. I found it alarming that they would be so willing to give up their voice. I’ve heard numbers from just 10-16% vote within the age group of 18-34. I heard on an NPR segment that only 9 states have civic-related school requirements. Suffice it to say I feel an urgent need to improve this opportunity and help our youth shape their own future. I am hoping others who read this will too (like in the next two weeks!).

A local non-profit here in Portland OR, Project Bus, engages youth politically, including new voter registration; encouraging newly registered voters to vote; and informing high schoolers about voting and activism. If you are not in Portland, perhaps your city has a similar organization? Or perhaps your high schools could use some volunteers next time around to help with voter registration education?

They tell me that after events like Parkland - High school student involvement has been on the rise and those not even old enough to vote yet are out canvassing and phone banking. It started with gun safety legislation and bloomed to other issues they care about. This week they are working on the governorship. They inspire me to do more too. So I will be phone banking with them in the next couple of weeks - and after the election looking forward to helping out with high school education to our future voters.

When I was that age, there were times when I felt that my voting voice didn’t matter. Now we know that is not the case. Our own Govenor Kate Brown won her initial congressional race by SEVEN VOTES. Many believe she would not have been the nation’s first LGBT female Govenor without those seven votes.

Project Bus explains that one of the reasons the vote is so low for this group is that it is a transitional time of life. Changing addresses - often states for college. It’s hard to keep track of registration. Residency rules can be pretty different state to state and some don’t make it at all easy; , sometimes there are dependencies on parents to mail their ballots to them, etc etc. If you have a son/daughter in this age group, you can support them by helping them navigate voter registration; and helping them evolve their own voice by engaging in issues that matter to them.

I am grateful to be in Oregon where we have ballots at home and can vote by mail. We’ve decided to model voting for our 9 year old. He’ll take part in our family discussion about the issues and candidates, and help fill out the ballot. Hopefully, he will also observe that our voting voice contributed to some results we’d like to see….