His mission: Getting youth to vote
Owen Simões, 17, began podcast to spread his love for politics to his generation
CONCORD, N.H. — At 17, Owen Simões knows that a lot of young people just aren’t that interested in politics.
He’s looking to change their minds. In February, he released the first two episodes of “Youth in the Booth,” a podcast where he interviews political insiders, politicians, and journalists.
Simões is also documenting his own journey to cast a ballot for the first time in the 2024 election. His goal is to get young people more engaged in the process and convince them they should care enough to vote.
“I have a lot of friends but no one’s really interested in politics,” said Simões, a junior at Bishop Brady High School in Concord. “A lot of them will be able to vote when I’m going to vote in this coming election, and they’re probably not going to because they don’t feel their one vote can make a difference.
“I want to change that,” he said. In the 2022 midterm election, youth turnout dipped to 23 percent nationally, down from 28 percent in 2018, which was a record-breaking year for turnout, according to data from Tufts University. Still, youth participation has risen considerably since 2014, when only 13 percent of people from 18 to 29 cast a ballot.
Tufts estimated that around 16 percent of young people in New Hampshire voted in the 2024 Republican primary, down from 43 percent in 2016. Ahead of the primary, young voters in New Hampshire described apathy among their peers and said they weren’t excited about the candidates put forward this cycle, which fits a national trend.
For Simões, it’s understandable, given the presidential candidates’ age. But he’s hopeful his project can have an impact: He said there’s plenty of passion among youth about issues from climate change to gun safety that he hopes to harness.
“As a student, you do have an overarching, looming threat of what if there is a school shooting?” he said. “That’s a big thing people are scared of.”
Simões said he came up with the idea to do a podcast in the shower. He did some research and found there weren’t many people his age in podcasting or in politics. It seemed like a gap he could fill. He had been a guest on the podcast “Creative Guts” to talk about a furniture flipping business he started when he was just 10 and found it fun. He hadn’t created a podcast before, but he was confident he could learn.
Simões told his dad while the two were on a road trip to visit his brother, who goes to school in Montreal.
“To be honest, it took me by surprise,” said Jayme Simões, Owen’s dad. “I remember when he first brought it up, and I thought, wow, this is a really great idea. I didn’t know he was into podcasts.”
The two workshopped the idea. Owen said both of his parents had lots of questions for him, which helped him shape the project.
They helped with a few introductions, but Jayme Simões said the project is entirely his son’s.
“He’s certainly following his own vision, and that’s what makes this really special,” Simões said.
In his first episode, Owen Simões interviewed Jamie Burnett, a public policy consultant who has worked on political campaigns for Mitt Romney and John E. Sununu. They talked about the nitty-gritty details of working on a campaign, and Simões asked Burnett if he remembered his first time voting.
“On that day that you cast a vote, you matter,” Burnett told Simões on the episode.
Simões has been using Concord TV’s recording studio at Concord High School, which is free for Concord residents. They can rent the space to record independently produced content once a month, said Josh Hardy, the station’s executive director.
“It’s a really fun, collaborative media environment for someone like Owen to come in,” he said.
Hardy said the space is open for all kinds of non-commercial uses. Other independent programming recorded at the station includes Laura Knoy’s “ReadLocalNH” podcast, where she interviews local authors, and “That’s Inclusive!”, a podcast about accessibility by the New Hampshire Council on Developmental Disabilities, according to Hardy.
Simões said the technical setup is easy. He books a session through Concord TV, hits a button, and gets an audio file delivered to his computer when he’s done. He’s hired freelancers to edit the audio and create a cartoon version of him and a voting booth to accompany the podcast, which he’s uploaded on Spotify and YouTube.
He also created a website and social media accounts, complete with short video snippets to try to capture his peers’ attention. He hopes a podcast can reach young people around the country.
One challenge has been convincing guests to come on a new podcast, he said, especially before he had released any episodes. It’s a lot to balance on top of the demanding AP courses he’s taking in high school.
But according to his dad, he’s been able to maintain his honor roll status, at the same time as launching the podcast.
Hardy said he’s encouraged to see Gen Z and young adults taking an interest in the political process.
“It makes me really happy that he’s dedicating his creative and productive energy towards helping the community,” he said.