High school voter registration is important because democracy is important.
Originally published on The Civics Center’s Substack.
Yes, it’s been a shocking and disorienting few months. I’m doing my best every day, to remember and commit to core values and the mission of my work: to make voter registration part of every high school in America.
You may find it hard to consider high school voter registration important when federal health agencies are ordered to cease external communications, when nondiscrimination efforts are stopped in their tracks, when security details are being ominously removed from public servants who face threats to their lives, or when Senate-confirmed inspectors general are fired late at night.
In the face of all this, though, high school voter registration remains important. Why? Because democracy is important. Because the power to press back against authoritarianism is in our hands. Because genuine progress is possible, and individual and collective effort can make a real difference.
It’s important because young people are needed in the fight, and it’s on us to help them understand their rightful political influence. It’s on us to embody the ideals of equal dignity and respect that underpin democracy, and it is vital to the future of our country. Young Americans are that future, and they are searching for hope and meaning amidst the chaos. I believe we can provide it.
The power to press back against authoritarianism is in our hands. … High school voter registration … has the capacity to achieve population-level impact for the country as a whole.
I continue to hear that many people are burnt out and that they don’t know where to put their energy. Burnout is real. I get it. But fundamentally, it’s not simply a matter of physical exhaustion or too little sleep. It’s a matter of feeling powerless and ineffective. It’s not just me saying this: You can read about it on the NIH website (before it disappears).
If experienced democracy activists and funders are feeling burned out, imagine how high school students are feeling, looking at their futures and wondering how democracy can withstand these assaults or even how to prepare for their AP Government exams when all they have learned is being turned upside down before their eyes.
What is on my mind today is how to be effective and how to help others feel effective, too—especially high school students, educators, volunteers and donors.
High school voter registration is not just a table in the lunchroom with some forms and a kindly volunteer. It’s the recognition that high schools represent the only institution in America capable of reaching basically everyone and doing so in a nonpartisan, educational, inclusive, peer-oriented setting.
High school voter registration needs to be understood for what it is: a systemic solution that has the capacity to achieve population-level impact for the country as a whole; a path to universal voter registration, and a larger, more inclusive electorate.
- It is the insistence that high school is the time and place to first register to vote.
- It’s the reality that to be effective, young people can and must play a leadership role in our democracy.
- It’s the challenge that young people and their teachers need high-quality, authoritative training and resources, as well as data to measure the results of their efforts and spur improvement.
- It’s the hurdle that today, many people still have not heard of preregistration and do not understand how it works, nor the opportunity that it represents.
- It’s the determination to establish and improve policies and practices to make voter registration part of every high school in America.
- And finally, it’s the vision that when voter registration is part of the fabric of high school life, the tradition will promote learning about civics and democracy, will encourage students to stand up for free and fair elections, and will strengthen communities by fostering authentic connections that provide a bulwark against authoritarianism and misinformation.
That’s what we mean when we talk about high school voter registration and when we ask for your support, whether in funding the effort or spreading the word. We can’t guarantee that the effort will cause your burnout to 100 percent dissolve. Anyone offering that kind of guarantee probably isn’t worth your time. But we can guarantee that the effort is serious, worthwhile and designed to solve a problem for the long term.
We can guarantee that giving young people the guidance and tools to care about democracy is fundamentally good, brings “We the People” closer to reality, and can provide a landing place for something we can all use: hope.
