It takes a village to raise a conscientious voter
Did anyone in your chosen or biological family ever take you with them to vote? Who taught you about voting and elections? Not whom to vote for, but how to register, learn about the candidates and issues, and know where and when to vote.
No one automatically knows how to vote when they turn 18. Voting must be taught — by family and friends, educators and community members. Passing on that generational knowledge and experience is crucial to maintaining our democracy. Voting is at the core of our democratic culture, and ought to be a family value and tradition. Voting is a life skill and has generational impact.
Becoming eligible to vote should be celebrated as a milestone. In 1985, Texas enacted a law that requires principals at every public and private high school to provide voter registration opportunities to all eligible students at least twice a year. It’s been nearly 40 years, and there is still a serious lack of awareness of and compliance with the law.
It’s worth noting that at 16, teenagers can become student election clerks and get paid to work the polls. Read more about this opportunity on the Texas secretary of state’s website.
I founded the nonprofit Youth Do Vote in January to focus on voter registration and civic education for high school students.
In partnership with the University of Texas at San Antonio, the League of Women Voters of the San Antonio Area and the San Antonio Youth Commission, we are hosting the inaugural Youth Voter Fest.
At this nonpartisan event, local high school and college students, as well as educators, can practice using voting machines from the Bexar County Elections Department while engaging with city and county leaders. This festival will take place Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the UTSA downtown campus.
In the 2022 report “CIRCLE Growing Voters: Building Institutions and Community Ecosystems for Equitable Election Participation” by the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University, a key finding is “friends and family are one of young people’s primary sources of information about elections and voting.” The report states that to grow voters, “parents, peers, and other influential figures in a young person’s life must embrace their role and responsibility in helping them develop as voters.”
From an early age, I can remember going to the polls with my parents. I remember my dad or mom carrying me into the voting machine, the metal lever being pulled back and the dark, thick curtains closing behind us. Even as a child, I felt the satisfaction and pride of exercising our right to vote. Perhaps unknowingly, we also created a core memory.
My mother graduated from Lanier High School in 1971, the year the 26th Amendment was passed, lowering the voting age from 21 to 18. I asked her recently if she registered to vote at 18 and she said, “Of course. Your grandma made sure I did.”
It takes a village to raise a voter. When family members and educators take the time to teach and mentor a young person, youth do vote. The Youth Voter Fest will be the first local event to offer an experiential, intergenerational opportunity for students to access a multitude of resources that will increase their civic knowledge and raise their confidence as a new generation of civically engaged youth.