Voting: “A New Generation of Young Voters: ISVP”
This policy proposal authored by Rie Kim, Audrey Lim, and Alex Moon won the first place in Pandemic Policython 2020 for the “Voting” category.
Executive Statement
The proposal for the Informed Student Voters Program (ISVP) confutes the argument that 16–17-year-olds are too immature and uninformed to vote by introducing a mandatory district-wide nonpartisan voter education program in the Montgomery County School District (MCSD) in Takoma Park, Maryland. ISVP would ensure that high schoolers in the MCSD are well informed about everything the voting process entails, including voter registration and election ballots. The benefit of having ISVP in schools is the opportunity to engage in political conversation with peers in a classroom setting, a safer environment to express differences in opinions regarding politics. Encouraging younger votes to engage in elections and civic education also results in higher voter turnout and establishes lifelong voters from a young age.
Background & Problem Statement
Takoma Park, Maryland passed a series of city charter amendments in 2013 including the right for 16-year-olds to vote in municipal elections. Despite skepticism from older generations about the maturity of 16-year-olds to be granted such a privilege, the early effects of lowering the voting age were mostly positive. The new political engagement culture among young people introduced a significant outcome- an increased rate of voter turnout. In the first election 16-year-olds were able to participate in, 44 percent turned out compared to the 10 percent overall turnout. The greater turnout than expected reminded citizens and lawmakers of Takoma Park that the younger generation cares deeply about their community and wishes for it to represent all who reside in it.
To eliminate further doubt of early voting age and increase voter turnout by creating lifelong voters, our proposal program, Informed Students Voter Program (ISVP), aims to teach high school students to become well-informed, engaged voters. Each year, high school students will acquire valuable skills to begin their political journey to last them throughout their citizenship through our district-mandatory program. ISVP enables students to learn indispensable skills such as registering to vote, completing election ballots, and developing digital literacy competence.
Proposed Recommendation and Implementation
As voters as young as 16 are already allowed to vote in municipal elections in Takoma Park, we propose a mandatory Informed Student Voters Program (ISVP) in the Montgomery County School District starting October 2022 and continuing annually. ISVP encompasses three main objectives:
- Guide students through the Takoma Park voter registration process and provide ballot examples (both mail-in ballots and in-person voting) to show students how to cast a vote accurately
- Teach critical digital literacy skills to ensure students can identify fake news and be prepared to interpret information regarding candidates and their policies
- Encourage an environment of political discourse among students of various political beliefs in the classroom under the guidance of a nonpartisan educator
ISVP implementation will vary among high school grade levels while still aligning with the Montgomery County School District’s grade-specific core curriculum. Beginning freshman year, as most students are 14–15-years-old and unable to register to vote, ISVP will focus on teaching digital literacy skills that will be used throughout the rest of their high school career and as adult voters. Although some sophomores will be eligible to register to vote, the sophomore curriculum of ISVP will mainly focus on the concept of why political participation is vital in a democracy to prepare sophomores to vote by the time they are juniors. This will build on the digital literacy skills gained as freshmen and introduce sophomores to classroom environment political conversations. As stated in the Montgomery County Public School’s curriculum guide, 10th graders are required to take “National, State, and Local Government A and B” to fulfill Maryland graduation requirements2. Unit 2 of Course A focuses explicitly on “Participation in the Political Process,” aligning with the proposed ISVP sophomore curriculum. Junior and senior year are when most students are now 16, therefore eligible to register and vote in November. At this point, trained educators will guide students through the voter registration process to ensure all students are registered to vote and inform new voters of election deadlines and how to accurately complete election ballots. Junior and senior year are also when much of the political discourse will take place as students should consider the opinions of others as they form their own views on which policies and candidates to vote for.
ISVP curriculum will provide resources and training for educators through a partnership collaboration between the Montgomery County School District and Teaching Tolerance. Teaching Tolerance provides educators with free resources3 regarding teaching democracy in classrooms, specifically emphasizing social justice and anti-bias4. Partnering with Teaching Tolerance would allow educators, specifically teachers, who would be supervising conversations in the classrooms, access free resources and receive adequate training on how to remain nonpartisan during classroom political discourse. Any other funds necessary for ISVP may be reallocated from the existing Montgomery County School District Operating Budget5. However, we do not predict ISVP to generate large expenditures considering that Teaching Tolerance’s resources are free. The one thing ISVP would take is class time. Much like an assembly or other non-educational instructional activity, time would have to be set aside one day or one class period in October to deliver ISVP curriculum to students which may add an additional day or period later in the year.
ISVP is projected to begin in October of 2022 to allow ample time for nonpartisan educator training and just in time for the next Takoma Park election year. ISVP would then continue yearly after that to ensure no students miss out on grade-specific ISVP curriculum.
Evidence & Analysis
Research proves the benefits our country and students reap from a generation further engrossed in civic education. As a nation founded upon the principles of democracy, it is paramount that the government represent the population as a whole; our proposal works to fulfill these ideals by increasing voter turnout rates to create habitual, lifelong voters. Increasing voter turnout rates provides a more robust representation of the people in our country and their ideals. Jacob Montogomery, Wendy Wood, and John Aldrich of the Washington University in St. Louis carefully analyzed eight national elections between 1959 and 1994, and evidence conveyed that the majority of votes are those who have previously voted, or “habitual voters6.” Psychological research helps explain why encouraging young students to vote will lead to lifelong voters as voters often associate voting with various rewards7. For example, voters whose vote matches the output of the election tend to feel rewarded and feel an incentive to vote again in the future. Those who received election results that are not in their favor have an incentive to continue to vote as they believe that if they were to win, it would be gratifying. Additional evidence indicates that the voter turnout rate doubled for young adults after they had released a program in Florida that advocated for increased voting8.. Both of these studies also conclude that young adults are willing to engage in politics after being exposed to readily available resources and assistance. ISVP will teach students how to register and vote and provide ample resources regarding politics.
Allowing younger generations to vote in Takoma Park has already proven to increase voter turnout rates9. When the Takoma Park city council passed legislation to lower the voting age in May 2013, out of the 16-and-17-year-olds registered to vote, 44% did, compared to the overall 10% turnout. Although only 134 16-and-17-year-olds were registered out of 370 eligible, ISVP can narrow that gap by making the registration process less convoluted for new voters. More students registered will make students more inclined to vote. However, not only do we predict an increase in voter turnout rates from 16–17-year-olds, but among minority ethnic groups as well. Montgomery County Public Schools is the largest school system in Maryland, with 25 high schools and a combined enrollment of 50,441 students10. According to 2018–2019 demographics, Hispanic/Latino students made up the majority ethnic group, with 32.3 percent of students just over 28.3 percent of students identifying as White10. Historically, Hispanic voter turnout rates have been among the lowest compared to other ethnic groups in America11. By implementing ISVP in a school district with young Hispanic/Latino potential voters, engaging in ISVP will guide them through the voting process to become lifelong voters throughout adulthood and increase Hispanic voter turnout in municipal, state, and national elections.
Conclusion & Next Steps
The impact and success of the Informed Students Voter Program in increasing young voter turnout will be quantifiable by collecting data about how many 16–17-year-olds registered to vote and voted in a given Takoma Park municipal election. Feedback from students and educators about the program, specifically, resources, and classroom discussions will help determine how successful ISVP was in achieving its three main objectives. However, information regarding habitual lifelong voting will not be attainable for many years. Regardless, suppose ISVP is successful within Takoma Park and the Montgomery County School District. In that case, the program has the potential to convince other towns and cities to lower the voting age to include a broader scope of representation and implement ISVP to make sure young voters are informed. ISVP has the potential to grow from towns to states and even the nation. In conclusion, the best way to hear the voices of younger generations is through participation in elections; but to settle concerns about maturity and bias, a mandatory school program to engage students in community-level politics is the best way to ensure young voters are well informed about the voting process and different political issues.
References
Cournoyer, Caroline. “Takoma Park, Md., Gives 16-Year-Olds the Right to Vote.” Governing, 2013, www.governing.com/topics/politics/gov-takoma-gives-teens-voting-rights.html.
“Montgomery County Public Schools.” Grade 10: Social Studies in High School — Montgomery County Public Schools, Rockville, MD, www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/socialstudies/high/grade10/.
“Teaching the Election: How to Stay Nonpartisan.” Teaching Tolerance, 18 Oct. 2018, www.tolerance.org/magazine/teaching-the-election-how-to-stay-nonpartisan.
“About Teaching Tolerance.” Teaching Tolerance, www.tolerance.org/about.
“Montgomery County Public Schools.” Operating Budget — Montgomery County Public Schools, Rockville, MD, www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/budget/.
Wendy Wood and John Aldrich, opinion contributor. “How Voting Becomes a Habit.” TheHill, The Hill, 10 Aug. 2019, thehill.com/opinion/campaign/456934-how-voting-becomes-a-habit.
Cravens, Matthew Dirks. The Role of Habit in Voting: Making and Breaking Habitual Voters, 1 Aug. 2013, conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/159682.
Davis, Vicki. “Growing Numbers of Young People Developing Habit of Voting: Opinion.” Treasure Coast, Treasure Coast Newspapers, 19 Nov. 2019,
Generation Citizen. “Lowering the Voting Age For Local Elections in Takoma Park and Hyattsville, MD.” vote16usa, Oct. 2016, vote16usa.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Final-MD-Case-Study.pdf.
“Montgomery County Public Schools At a Glance.” Montgomeryschoolsmd, 7 Dec. 2018, www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/about/homepage/At%20a%20Glance%20%2001.24.19.pdf.
Krogstad, Jens Manuel, et al. “Historic Highs in 2018 Voter Turnout Extended across Racial and Ethnic Groups.” Pew Research Center, Pew Research Center, 23 Sept. 2020, www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/05/01/historic-highs-in-2018-voter-turnout-extended-across-racial-and-ethnic-groups/.
Additional Sources
Davis, Vicki. “Growing Numbers of Young People Developing Habit of Voting: Opinion.” Treasure Coast, Treasure Coast Newspapers, 19 Nov. 2019, www.tcpalm.com/story/opinion/contributors/2019/11/19/growing-numbers-young-people-developing-habit-voting/4177502002/.
Wendy Wood and John Aldrich, opinion contributor. “How Voting Becomes a Habit.” TheHill, The Hill, 10 Aug. 2019, thehill.com/opinion/campaign/456934-how-voting-becomes-a-habit.
Berlatsky, Noah. “Why Lowering the Voting Age Would Make for a Better Democracy.” Mic, Mic, 18 Oct. 2019, www.mic.com/p/why-lowering-the-voting-age-would-make-for-a-better-democracy-18802767.
Symonds, Alexandria. “Why Don’t Young People Vote, and What Can Be Done About It?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 8 Oct. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/10/08/upshot/youth-voting-2020-election.html.
McDonald, Michael. “Voter Turnout Demographics.” United States Elections Project, www.electproject.org/home/voter-turnout/demographics.
Astor, Maggie. “16-Year-Olds Want a Vote. Fifty Years Ago, So Did 18-Year-Olds.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 19 May 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/05/19/us/politics/voting-age.html.
Warren, Scott. “This Is Why 16-Year-Olds Should Be Able to Vote.” New York Post, New York Post, 2 Mar. 2019, nypost.com/2019/03/02/this-is-why-16-year-olds-should-be-able-to-vote/. Sargrad, Ashley Jeffrey and Scott. “Strengthening Democracy With a Modern Civics Education.” Center for American Progress, 2019, www.americanprogress.org/issues/education-k-12/reports/2019/12/14/478750/strengthening-democracy-modern-civics-education/.
Bowman, Emma. “Young Activist Pushes To Lower Voting Age To 16 As ‘The Logical Next Step’ For Gen Z.” NPR, NPR, 28 Sept. 2020, www.npr.org/2020/09/28/916078915/young-activist-pushes-to-lower-voting-age-to-16-as-the-next-logical-step-for-gen.
Dassonneville, Ruth, et al. “How the Decline in Voter Turnout Increases Political Inequality.” Politics Blog, 30 Nov. 2016, politicsblog.ac.uk/2016/11/30/decline-voter-turnout-increases-political-inequality/.
Douglas, Joshua A. “In Defense of Lowering the Voting Age.” SSRN, 24 Jan. 2017, papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2903669.
Daniel Hart, Robert Atkins. “American Sixteen- and Seventeen-Year-Olds Are Ready to Vote — Daniel Hart, Robert Atkins, 2011.” SAGE Journals, 2010, journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0002716210382395.
“Voter Turnout and List of Write-in Votes for the 2017 City Election.” City of Takoma Park, 27 Nov. 2017, takomaparkmd.gov/news/voter-turnout-and-list-of-write-in-votes-for-the-2017-city-election/.
