The heroes of our democracy deserve more

Dear first-time voters and future voters,

At the end of every year, nonprofit leaders make a practice of writing to donors and supporters about the achievements of the prior year. Here at The Civics Center, as our amazing team crafts a deck of slides to do just that, the message that feels most urgent can’t be expressed in metrics or a list of accomplished tasks. What feels most pressing, and I think our donors will forgive this, is the message I have for you, the first-time voters and future voters who are trying to make sense of the 2020 election and what it means for you in the years ahead.

That message is this: You were the heroes of our democracy in 2020, and you deserve more than what this year has given you. You deserve a reliable democracy that welcomes you.

Some people say that young people don’t care about such things. You can tell them to please stop saying that now. This year, you have shown over and over again that you care for one another, and you care for your families, your communities, the country and the planet. You have modeled perseverance and the need to stand up for what you believe in. Your capacity to learn and try new things, even in the face of exhausting remote learning and the isolation of physical separation has given your parents, teachers and others whose lives you touch a reason to try to maintain their spirits and to push on from day to day.

And in the midst of that, those of you who are 18 and over broke turnout records, somehow navigating the process to register and vote during a global pandemic. Your votes counted and made a decisive difference in many important races. Those of you who are not yet 18 cheered others on and preregistered yourselves and your friends to be ready in 2022.

Thank you!

What does this mean about the next two years and the next four years? Let’s start with the glowing headlines about how fantastic it is that roughly 52% of young citizens cast ballots this year.

Don’t let these headlines fool you. Fifty-two percent is not fantastic. It is not even in the same zip code as fantastic. If you got 52% on a test, you would not pass. And in the next two years and four years, that is what you can tell the people who maintain the laws, policies, and practices that make it so hard for young people to register and to vote. For the most part, when it comes to helping you understand and exercise your fundamental right to vote, they have not done right by you, and they need to do better.

Here’s the most obvious example as it relates to youth voting: The vast majority of high school students are eligible to register to vote before they graduate from high school. But most high schools do nothing or next to nothing (even before the pandemic) to make sure every eligible student is registered, or even to make sure every student knows the rules about how to register.

Several states give only a narrow window of six months or less in which to register before the age of 18. Some states impose burdensome proof-of-residency requirements for voter registration, demanding documentation that most young people do not have and cannot easily get. Some states or counties make it hard to vote on college campuses and especially hard on campuses serving large BIPOC student populations. 

Some states have good laws like automatic voter registration, which is supposed to make voter registration the default when a citizen interacts with the DMV. But many states don’t implement these laws well. Often, young people who get their learner’s permits to drive before they are old enough to register or preregister to vote are missed. In Los Angeles, where I live, we have automatic voter registration, but only 11% of 16- and 17-year-olds are preregistered to vote. For those of you taking AP calculus -- or any math class at all -- that is also not fantastic.

It shouldn’t be like this. You deserve better.

When I started The Civics Center, I made a promise to myself that I would always be honest with you. So I’m sorry if this feels a little hard to hear.

I cannot sugarcoat the fact that there are a lot of people who don’t want our democracy to work. But the reality is that more of us do want it to work. And those of us who do are building on a foundation of respect for individuals, respect for communities, respect for truth, and respect for the rule of law. We also maintain a hopeful belief that even if we don’t agree with one another all the time, we can all benefit from functioning processes through which to make decisions about a future we all share.

Since it is the holiday season, I wish that I could give you a gift. But I can’t give you anything for voting or registering to vote, because that would not be legal (as you know from our training already). But what I can give you -- whether you are already registered or not -- may be better.  

As in the Wizard of Oz I can point out something you already have and let you do the rest. One of the things you already have is permission. You have permission to take your interest in politics and democracy seriously. You have permission to learn about how our government works and to consider how it could work better. You have permission to talk to your friends, parents, and local leaders about these things. We have lots of resources on our website and social media, as well as youth programs, to help you get started.

Beyond permission, you also already have authority. You have authority to give voice to your own experience. You have authority to decide what is important to you and what kind of society you want to help build. And you have authority to tell anyone who will listen that you are part of a movement to get every eligible high school student registered to vote before graduation every year so that all of you can begin voting in every election just as soon as you possibly can.

Happy holidays! 

Stay safe. Wash your hands. Wear a mask. 

See you in 2021.