How Could 8 Million Teens Register to Vote?
Every year, Jessie Cai would shadow her mom on “take your kid to work day.” At the Maryland Social Security office, where her mom was a systems analyst, she was struck by the lack of Asian American faces in the room. “I walked around and got the distinct impression that not many people in public service looked like me or my mom,” said Cai, a 17-year-old rising senior.
That experience set her on a mission to understand Asian American civic engagement. In 2023, she joined New Voters, an organization that helps high schoolers host voter registration drives. A consequential Maryland primary election was on the horizon, and she wanted to make sure young people — including the Asian Americans in her community — made their voices heard. “In Maryland, you can pre-register to vote at age 16, so I knew we could cast a wider net to register younger students,” she said.
New Voters paired Cai with a mentor, who gave her step-by-step guidance for hosting a registration drive. Cai set up meetings with school administrators, convinced her statistics teacher to sponsor her club and partnered with the National Social Studies Honor Society to set up the weeklong initiative in April. She and her friends tabled outside of the cafeteria, where they knew they could incentivize students to register by giving out free donuts.
Check out our blog post here: https://nbcuacademy.com/young-voters-...
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