Friendship is the key to expanding youth civic engagement [Voices of Democracy series]

I am so thankful to have been able to participate in this Fellowship with a group of amazing, civically-minded, and extremely hard-working students. This program has helped me not only become more involved in civics, but has also given me the ability to become more connected with like-minded people in the Fellowship as well as my local community. Educating myself on current events in politics has allowed me to talk to new people and help deepen relationships with friends I previously had. Throughout late October and early November, my friends and I would talk for hours on end about politics, what we thought about different policies, as well as our predictions for the upcoming election. I have been able to hear other people's opinions on different matters which I wouldn't have been able to without this program.

I wasn’t aware how low youth voter turnout was around the country prior to the 2020 election, and it was very surprising to me given how elections can have a much greater impact on youth rather than older people. I have learned how grateful we should be to have the right to vote, and that we all should take advantage of this amazing opportunity. I look forward to continuing to push people to register to vote and showing others how their voices can make a difference.

Jack Vein is a 2020 Youth Fellow with The Civics Center and is a junior at Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles, California. The Civics Center’s “Voices of Democracy” blog series celebrates and highlights the voices that matter to us most: those of young people working to improve civic engagement and participation in our democracy.