It’s been two years since that February Tuesday we decided to try out the idea of a day dedicated to promoting lowering the voting age on Twitter, using a hashtag. The chosen hashtag was, of course, #16tovote, a term used previously by NYRA of Southeast Florida’s lower voting age campaign. Watching others on Twitter use hashtags to promote campaigns or ideas, as well as using them for “chats”, these ideas inspired what we know and love (tolerate?) today as #16tovote on the 16th. After the first run on February 16, 2010 exceeded expectations and was well-received, we did it again on March 16, with many more tweets and participants. And we’ve done it again every month since!
#16tovote on the 16th is more than a social network awareness campaign. It’s a declaration of support and solidarity. It’s a demonstration that this supposedly fringe issue has real merit and real people who want to make it happen. It’s a learning experience, too, in that with everyone participating and sharing their own views on lowering the voting age, we can find points and benefits we might not have noticed before!
Two years now we’ve done this, and of course, we’re doing it again and again, onto the third year! Every 16th of the month, and because it’s an election year, in November, we’ll be doing #16tovote on Election Day, too!
Next is of course on Friday, March 16. For now, the recap!
youthrights And… it’s two years old! It’s #16tovote on the 16th! 😀 Here’s Top 10 Reasons to LOWER THE VOTING AGE! http://t.co/RRS0Ridu
youthrights For two years now, we’ve taken a day out of every month to remind all of you fine people why the voting age is too high. #16tovote
youthrights And you’ve all been terrific in joining in and helping us promote the cause for a lower voting age! 🙂 #16tovote
youthrights So let’s get into it. On into #16tovote on the 16th – Second Anniversary Edition! And our lower voting age tweeting…
Mbicesk8r #16tovote on the sixteenth
youthrights It’s easy for elected officials to talk and legislate about teens as if they were objects. The teens couldn’t elect them. #16tovote
sciville My impression of someone against lower voting age: “Help! Someone younger than me might have an equal say in society! Oh noes!” #16tovote
youthrights School boards the students can’t vote for allow admins to endanger student health by restricting bathroom access. #16tovote
youthrights Happy Birthday #16tovote!! Today, NYRA’s #16tovote Twitter campaign reaches the ripe old age of two. Will it need… http://t.co/0QEWTqj4
youthrights 16-year-olds attend the schools AND their income taxes fund it. Yet they still cannot vote for school board or anyone else. #16tovote
youthrights Local politicians enact youth curfew laws, giving adult voters’ false sense of security priority over teens’ right to go outside. #16tovote
FoxfireBurns Never mind the rent! The VOTING AGE is too damn high!! #16tovote
sciville “Teens are stupid! Stupid people shouldn’t vote!” Uh oh. I think you just disenfranchised yourself! 😛 #16tovote
sciville Why oppose lower voting age? Think a teen voting would undermine the sanctity of your vote somehow? 😛 #16tovote
youthrights Social services for youth keep suffering budget cuts? Of course. Youth can’t vote for those who decide what to cut! #16tovote
teh_maxh Blydd drwg in Norwegian is dårlig ulv. #16tovote
youthrights Indiana is trying to punish student speech even outside school: http://t.co/rCCzntwt And students can’t vote against it! #16tovote @SPLC
Rylee_Ann Why is it that when you turn 18 you are immediately considered mature enough to vote, isn’t that kind arbitrary? #16tovote
youthrights You can be “tried as an adult” long before you can vote. So can’t join adults at the polling place but can… in prison. #16tovote
youthrights Politicians are voted in by adults who fear youth, not by youth themselves, so we have ridiculous “tough on youth crime” measures. #16tovote
youthrights Just want some basic lower voting age information? Check out our Voting Age page: http://t.co/hcLtzUbt 🙂 #16tovote
Zapwoman Hmm…@youthrights U can b “tried as an adult” long b4 u can #vote. So u can’t join adults @ the polls but can in prison #16tovote #youth
JonSM99 Homeless and foster youth are among the worst hit by WA budget cuts the last 3 years. Yet they can’t vote. #16tovote
JonSM99 “It’s always the old who lead us to war/it’s always the young who fall” -Phil Ochs. Maybe if teens could vote we’d have less war. #16tovote
JonSM99 16 year olds not smart enough to vote? Like adults have done so well? #16tovote
JonSM99 Joan of Arc would support voting rights for 16 year olds. #16tovote
Jordan_Carr #16ToVote because nothing in the Constitution says that the voting age has to be 18.
ErikBraghirol Because an injury to one is an injury to all. #16tovote.
Rylee_Ann Voting age should be determined by maturity and knowledge, not an arbitrary age or majority. #16tovote
Rylee_Ann 16 year olds can be just as affected by laws and taxes as adults. Just because you can’t vote doesn’t mean you laws don’t apply. #16tovote
youthrights Good morning! Today we’re celebrating the second anniversary of #16tovote on the 16th! 😀
ErikBraghirol Because the best way to learn about civics is hands on. #16tovote.
youthrights Check it out! Two years ago today, the very FIRST run of #16tovote on the 16th! http://www.youthrights.org/2010/02/17/16tovote/
youthrights How many more constitutional rights violations must students put up with before they can vote out the school board allowing it? #16tovote
youthrights Disenfranchisement means marginalization and demonization. Stop marginalizing and demonizing teens! Lower the voting age! 🙂 #16tovote
youthrights Forbidding students from using the bathroom, Concord NH? http://www.wmur.com/r-video/30451224/detail.html Why can’t students vote out board allowing THAT?! #16tovote
Schmidt_Law State legislatures are considering restricting or expanding students’ free speech http://wp.me/p1QqhJ-2q and they have no say #16tovote
ammaarahk didn’t know there was legislation to bring the voting age down to 16.. #16tovote god, would I have been a happy camper 3 years ago!
ammaarahk …esp bc I was one of the kids who actually KNEW what was going on rather than the “older” voters who voted blindly, along lines. #16tovote
ammaarahk after all, age simply is arbitrary — it doesn’t constitute “how smart” someone is. #16tovote
youthrights Teens pay taxes just like anyone else but have no say in how money is used. Taxation without representation! #16tovote
ErikBraghirol If Rick Santorum can vote, why can’t 16 year-olds? #16tovote.
youthrights Ridiculous stereotypes about maturity don’t constitute compelling state interest in denying voting rights to teens. #16tovote
youthrights Want politicians to protect young people’s rights, services, interests? Make sure the young people can vote for those politicians! #16tovote
youthrights “I am 16. I have a job and pay taxes.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7XtMb6ig38 Our 2008 voting age TV ad by @nyrasefl! 🙂 #16tovote
youthrights Obama wants to forbid under-18 dropouts. Because when you can’t vote, officials happily keep you in school against your wishes. #16tovote
ErikBraghirol If 16 year-olds could vote, maybe schools wouldn’t have zero tolerance rules that have nothing to do with the real world. #16tovote.
FoxfireBurns More than 100 years after Susan B. Anthony, we’re still waiting for “universal suffrage.” #16tovote
youthrights The solution to fears of uninformed young voters is informing them, not restricting and silencing them. #16tovote
youthrights Today is #16tovote!! Spread around NYRA’s awesome ad about lowering the voting age! Share this video widely!…
http://t.co/SO5iEQ3k
SnipeMe #16tovote has been going on for 2 yrs as of today. Yes it’s been 2yrs of saying the same shit 80x every month. Einstein defined insanity.
youthrights Some say teens wouldn’t vote even with the right. But then why oppose suffrage if you think things would be the same anyway? 😛 #16tovote
arclights Smack your wife: horrible crime. Smack your teen
daughter: perfectly legal. Why? Who wrote the laws? #16tovote
arclights “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men become equal when they turn 18.” Oh, it doesn’t say that? #0tovote, #16tovote 2 start
arclights No taxation without representation! Teens pay taxes. They’re entitled to representation. #16tovote #0tovote #tcot
arclights How much debt for older people’s benefits has been imposed on kids who aren’t allowed to vote? #16tovote #0tovote
arclights If you think it doesn’t matter that teenagers can’t vote, go shoot your own laptop. #16tovote #0tovote
youthrights The 26th Amendment forbids raising the voting age above 18, but it does not forbid lowering it! 🙂 #16tovote
pacifist22 It’s possible that some 16 and 17 year olds have a lot more political sense than some people older than 40. #16tovote
youthrights So why are we saying 16? Get asked that a LOT! It’s explained here: http://www.youthrights.org/2011/10/14/why-sixteen/ 🙂 #16tovote
youthrights “Human rights can have no age limits!”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVFWwGyPAX4 It’s @UsielX on free speech and voting rights at SCOTUS! 😀 #16tovote
youthrights Some say teens would just “vote like their parents”. In other words… someone might vote the same way as someone else! #16tovote
youthrights Even 40-year-olds may “vote like their parents”. Not a valid standard for voting rights! Why place it on teens? #16tovote
youthrights “Teens would vote like parents” assumes parents vote same. Wasn’t wives “voting like husbands” an anti-women’s suffrage excuse? #16tovote
youthrights Voting rights are about “consent of the governed.” Yet teens can’t vote, and are very governed, so such governance is unjust. #16tovote
youthrights Second Anniversary of #16tovote on the 16th is going GREAT! Once again… Top 10 Reasons to Lower the Voting Age!
http://t.co/C32NX8O3
youthrights Too young to vote for lawmakers who restrict your employment options yet make you work for free as a “graduation requirement”. #16tovote
kstarks17 @youthrights no taxation without representation #16tovote
youthrights Teens can’t vote. Adults who hate teens can. Politicians want votes. That’s a factor in all youth policy decisions. #16tovote
youthrights Is it important for youth to have the right to vote? Of course! Youth Rights 101, Part 4: The Right to Vote
http://www.youthrights.org/2012/02/13/yr101-4/ #16tovote
youthrights When too young to vote, law says you can’t leave your abusive home until someone else deems it abusive enough for that. #16tovote
youthrights When too young to vote, lawmakers choose adult comfort over science by restricting your access to emergency contraception. #16tovote
youthrights Politicians can safely advocate parenting methods that would be human rights violations if done to adults. The kids can’t vote! #16tovote
tKochers Its been over 30 years since the 26th amendment was passed, giving 18-20 year olds the right to vote. Its time to do it again. #16tovote
tKochers Age is no different than race, gender, or creed. @youthrights #16tovote #0tovote
ammaarahk @youthrights In my family, I was advising MY PARENTS who to vote for. Ever since I was 15. Not my fault I read my news. #16tovote
ammaarahk 5 years ago, 8th grade assignment was “what law would you change?” Most did driving law. I did #voting law. been a dream since #16tovote
zombieramen Perhaps if young people could vote, police squads would be a bit more careful about upholding the shooting of laptops. #16tovote
youthrights Anthony Michael Hall’s character in “The Breakfast Club”, the straight A model citizen, had a fake ID… so he could vote. 🙂 #16tovote
Amy33Amy33 People all think that young people will all vote democrat, Those people are out of touch #RonPaul #16toVote
Amy33Amy33 #RealLoveiswhen I can turn in my ballot without having to worry about my age #16toVote
Amy33Amy33 #Thingsthatbotherme When people don’t think I should vote because of my age #16toVote
youthrights Great #16tovote tweets today, everyone! 😀 Once again… here’s @nyrasefl’s 2008 voting age TV ad! http://t.co/ZoKnXN02
Amy33Amy33 @PhyllisKahn @keithellison , @youthrights ‘s #16toVote Is going on right now! You should join =)
sciville If you thought teens would likely vote for your candidate, would you still oppose their voting rights? Think about it! 😛 #16tovote
sciville Fear of teens voting would presumably mean fear that teens would vote against one’s interests. Source of fear is anyone’s guess. #16tovote
Amy33Amy33 #16toVote My awesome I can’t vote shrinky dink http://t.co/hvNSCpNl
youthrights If you feel teen disenfranchisement is necessary for protecting your interests, you probably need to rethink your interests. #16tovote
youthrights When Ann Coulter said “raise the voting age!” Our own @kpalicz said “no! lower the voting age!” http://t.co/Yp3gDU1A #16tovote
youthrights You can vote at 16 in Austria and Brazil, and parts of Germany, Switzerland, and UK. Time to happen here, too! 🙂 #16tovote
sciville The creepy neighbor who watches the kids walk to school has more say in who’s on the school board than those kids do. #16tovote
studentactivism #16tovote #15tovote #14tovote #13tovote #12tovote #11tovote… Honestly? I don’t give a damn. Votes for everybody, and keep ’em coming.
youthrights Anyone who says “teens would just vote for celebrities” obviously isn’t familiar with Reagan, Ventura, or Schwarzenegger. #16tovote
youthrights Really we’re not interested in how teens would vote. They’ll vote any way they want, if at all. You know, just like adults! 🙂 #16tovote
youthrights Once teens can vote, those in charge will be more obligated to actually listen to them and respectfully address youth issues. #16tovote
sciville “Youth aren’t capable of voting! They’ll just vote liberal!” Okay, I don’t think you quite get this whole elections thing. #16tovote
sciville Lower the voting age! “What’s it now?” 18. “Lower to what?” 16! “What! Teens don’t know enough about politics to vote!” *facepalm* #16tovote
youthrights Teens are subject to laws, some aimed at them only, yet had no say in who enacted these laws. This is inherently unjust. #16tovote
youthrights Three hours to go for #16tovote on the 16th – Second Anniversary Edition! Going great! Thanks so much, everyone! 😀
youthrights Once again… here’s our always fabulous President @UsielX demanding free speech and voting rights at SCOTUS: http://t.co/LP8enpOg #16tovote
youthrights That teens don’t (usually) have spouses, children, property, etc. does not matter. Adults without any of that can still vote! #16tovote
youthrights Teens who are married parents still aren’t allowed to vote. Voting age isn’t substitute for some marriage/parenthood requirement. #16tovote
youthrights I doubt those who say teens don’t have enough political knowledge to vote agree on exactly what knowledge should be required. #16tovote
youthrights We don’t worry about adult voters’ political knowledge, so makes little sense to worry about it with teens! Double standard! #16tovote
youthrights It’s not about knowledge or maturity. Voting age boils down to “these ‘other’ people don’t matter as much and don’t get a say.” #16tovote
youthrights A voting and socially aware teen might encourage non-voting and/or apathetic parents to vote and care more about issues. #16tovote
youthrights Not just about voting itself. It’s also the many rights violations youth suffer because they have no say in government. #16tovote
youthrights It’s 10pm. If you go outside right now, would you be arrested? Because of a curfew law set by officials you couldn’t vote for? #16tovote
youthrights At school tomorrow, will you be paddled, searched, or otherwise mistreated in ways sanctioned by school board you can’t vote for? #16tovote
FoxfireBurns “What do you need a fake ID for?” “So I can vote.” – No one should have to fake it. #16tovote
kstarks17 @youthrights always the possibility of a random locker search by drug dogs! invasion of privacy I can do nothing about. #16tovote
kstarks17 @youthrights end schools’ rights as “special districts” allowing them to strip my constitutional “inalienable” rights #16tovote
JonSM99 The mentally disabled vote. People w/dementia vote. Why not 16 year olds? #16tovote
JonSM99 @ammaarahk I was one of those too. Volunteered in politics since I was 14. #16tovote
JonSM99 Age of consent for sex in WA is 16. Many states let you marry at 16. But not vote?? Crazy! #16tovote
JonSM99 Constitution guarantees voting rights for 18 year olds, but state & local gov’ts can go further. They should. Who’ll be first? #16tovote
JonSM99 Letting 16 year olds vote will ruin society. Just like letting women, black people, and non-land owners vote did. #16tovote
youthrights Letting adults vote on school issues but not students is like saying only the Swiss may vote in US elections. #16tovote
sciville My dog has the same voting rights as your honor student. #16tovote
youthrights You don’t get good youth policy by excluding youth from the process. Include them equitably. Give them a REAL voice! #16tovote
EIFY Because lying politicians should be punished like lying children. #16tovote
youthrights Teens’ tax dollars pay for the streets they can’t walk at night because of a curfew law set by politicians they couldn’t vote on. #16tovote
youthrights No one who can vote for teen driver restrictions will be subject to them. Hence they are pointless, ill-conceived, and unjust. #16tovote
youthrights Less than half an hour to go for this Second Anniversary of #16tovote on the 16th! Let’s give it a good finish! 😀
youthrights Lowering the voting age IS youth empowerment! A vote is a REAL voice, REAL power, influencing a society that DOES include youth! #16tovote
youthrights Without voting rights, policies treat youth as merely the sons and daughters of citizens rather than as citizens themselves. #16tovote
youthrights Without being eligible voters, youth are seen as something voters must deal with, their own interests largely ignored. #16tovote
JonSM99 There’s no IQ test to vote. There’s no maturity test to vote. There’s no civics test to vote. #16tovote
JonSM99 Shouldn’t the internet and social media be regulated by people who understand them? #16tovote
JonSM99 Maybe we’d have real laws against child abuse if young people could vote. #16tovote
youthrights Two years now we’ve set aside the 16th of every month for raising awareness on here of lowering the voting age! #16tovote
JonSM99 Maybe we’d make real investments in education if 16 year olds could vote. #16tovote
JulianRCorbett There is no such thing as just inequality. There is either equality or injustice, but never both. #16tovote
youthrights We know the injustices youth suffer due to lack of real representation. We know how much we’ll all benefit from lower voting age. #16tovote
JulianRCorbett True equality may be a big dream, but America has never been afraid of dreaming big. If anything, that’s our national pastime. #16tovote
youthrights We see the double standards placed on the young, the idea that youth must earn the rights adults automatically have, like voting. #16tovote
JulianRCorbett In any democratic society, there is no such thing as a “wrong opinion.” Yet why is that always the argument against #16tovote ?
JonSM99 Those affected by curfew laws should be able to vote on them. #16tovote
youthrights We see youth looked down upon, refused a voice, degraded, denied, treated as lesser, as property. Enough! Lower the voting age! #16tovote
youthrights Lower voting age is one of very many rights youth need, but with it, more rights can be secured. #16tovote
JonSM99 If we’re going to try “juveniles” as adults, shouldn’t we let them vote as adults? #16tovote
JonSM99 “Power is never granted voluntarily by the oppressor. It must be demanded by the oppressed. -Martin Luther King #16tovote
youthrights Youth deserve better than rights violations and oppression. They need a vote. They need involvement. We all need change! #16tovote
youthrights And… that’s it for the Second Anniversary of #16tovote on the 16th!!! Thanks, everyone! 😀 Timeline clogging credits up shortly.
evilfoods I still have time for #16tovote
evilfoods When we have a segregated bathrooms (as at my school) then we need change #16tovote
evilfoods “Kids will just vote the same as family” Is there a wrong way to vote? #16tovote
evilfoods Oppression feeds oppression, until we have #16tovote and then #0tovote were doomed to more operation.
youthrights Thanks for the #16tovote tweets! @ProjectScenario @KidsHaveRights2 @sciville @Mbicesk8r @FoxfireBurns @VoteIndeCan @MichaelCoholich
youthrights Thanks for the #16tovote tweets! @teh_maxh @Rylee_Ann @VonGleason @SamCEllis @Jordan_Carr @ErikBraghirol @JonSM99 @Schmidt_Law @ammaarahk
youthrights Thanks for the #16tovote tweets! @SnipeMe @arclights @pacifist22 @underbellie @faithvoid @silverwolf1977 @TeacherSabrina @RittaFromMars
youthrights Thanks for the #16tovote tweets! @RPGProse @ChannelOneNews @unschoollife @Leseguenni @lilliaffe @oinonio @Chipmazing @louton01 @kstarks17
youthrights Thanks for the #16tovote tweets! @tKochers @nickj47 @studentactivism @SchoolSurvival @tomwburke @ConsiderAnew @zombieramen @Amy33Amy33
youthrights Thanks for the #16tovote tweets! @Pay2PlayTV @SebastosPublius @OnBradstreet @urbanrezlife @EIFY @_mattjohnson @girl_onthego @cjohanns
youthrights Thanks for the #16tovote tweets! @cerinmerin @JulianRCorbett @evilfoods @forevercheyanne @jasonspriggs @gerrycanavan @daniel_immke @heoj
youthrights Thanks for the #16tovote tweets! @cerinmerin @JulianRCorbett @evilfoods @forevercheyanne @jasonspriggs @gerrycanavan @daniel_immke @heoj
youthrights Thanks for the #16tovote tweets! @curiouscliche @UnifiedLeft And anyone we might have missed!
taradinoc #16tovote because different doesn’t mean worse: http://t.co/hMH6GGxC
youthrights Onto the third year of #16tovote on the 16th! Next is of course Friday, March 16! We do it all again! Goodnight, everybody! 😀
Onto another great year! 😀
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