Election Day Special

A very brief update for these midterm elections

As I promised last week, I have a short post for Election Day.

The Youth Don’t Vote?

After writing in favor of California’s Prop. 29, I had a second piece picked up by The Sacto Politico! The publication asked me to write a counternarrative to the widely held believe that young people don’t vote.

I learned a lot researching the piece, much of it in support of my conviction that many young people fall victims to the same structural barriers that disproportionately prevent low-income people and people of color of all ages from voting each year.

California has done a lot to make voting as accessible as possible, including implementing universal vote by mail and letting people as young as 16 pre-register to vote when they apply for their driver’s permit. This is great, and more states should follow suit.

However, no matter how easy it is to vote, younger people, like all people, won’t vote if they don’t feel any candidates on the ballot can speak to their interests. If you’re curious what I ha…