Hello, everyone! Tonight, it is time for another #16tovote on the 16th! This is our monthly event to speak up and spread the word about lowering the voting age! Tired of laws being made about youth without their input? Tired of teens’ tax dollars being happily accepted but not their votes? Tired of important school decisions being made by officials the students could not choose? This is a time to speak up!
As usual, time to get on Twitter, where NYRA and lots of other youth rights supporters will tweet and retweet throughout the 24 hours about why the voting age must be lowered, including relevant news articles, blog posts, videos, anecdotes, and whatever else, using the #16tovote hashtag. Please be sure you are following NYRA on Twitter. #16tovote on the 16th tweeting begins officially at midnight Eastern.
Check out the #16tovote search feed here.
Also, evening of the 16th at 8pm Eastern we’re having a NYRA chat geared toward discussing the voting age and this event. Some things to discuss:
-What are some ways we all can work towards lowering the voting age in our respective locations?
-What are some of us already doing?
-How can we more effectively spread the word and attract more supporters?
-How can we help each other out?
Like all our other chats, this will take place on AIM in chatroom “nyra”. Just get on AIM, go to your client’s chat option, invite yourself, and set “nyra” as the chat name/ID and you should be in! If this doesn’t work, just send an IM to me at “SciVille” and I’ll invite you in if I can.
And finally… Leave a voting age comment below! Here’s some questions to try to answer if you’re not sure what to say (or tweet about):
-Why do you believe the voting age should be lowered?
-How has the voting age affected you?
-Have you talked to your friends or family about lowering the voting age?
-Have you contacted your elected officials about it?
-How do you believe our society will be different once the voting age is lowered?
-In what ways will the lower voting age benefit the lives of young people?
-How might political tactics, funding, or issues be different?
-What laws, regulations, and policies may be affected or changed?
-What would be the impact on schools?
-What have you personally done to work towards a lower voting age?
Comments could be one sentence or a few paragraphs, whatever you want. Just remember to be nice! Any comments that are abusive or completely off-topic will be removed.
(Note that comments will go into moderation once posted. So don’t worry if you do not see it after you submit. I just need to approve it first.)
So in review, the plan for the 16th is… #16tovote tweeting! Evening chat! Commenting here!
So… why do you want to lower the voting age? 🙂
I guess I’ll start.
I’m 27 now, but the voting age being 18 has always irked me and still does. In 2000, when I was 17, I was a sophomore in college, and the Bush/Gore election was going on. Everyone around me could vote, students like me, some of them only freshmen and to graduate after me. They were allowed to participate, but I, despite having earned my way up to their educational level, being no less politically aware than they, was still forbidden just because I was born the wrong year. I turned 18 six months later, but that didn’t matter since the 2000 election itself was already quite over with (despite the vote count issues, of course, hehe).
Even today, all the time, I see politicians making ridiculous laws restricting young people, based on faulty stereotypes and adults’ prejudices, and never based on young people’s true abilities or desires. And they get away with it because the young people aren’t able to vote against them, and as far as politicians are concerned, under-18s in this case do not exist. But under-18s DO exist and are real people with a real voice and thoughts, and we need a government and electoral system that will recognize that!
When I was 17 I was working and knew more about politics than most 30 year olds I knew. They couldn’t name our senator but I could. But they could vote and I couldn’t. It doesn’t make sense!
I’ll be a sophomore in college at 17, too. I only have about a semester to go. A few days ago was voting day. Despite not being legally allowed ot vote, everyone presumed I was, so I got hassled for not voting and talked at for about fifteen straight minutes by a canidate.
Today, one of my classmates complained at great length about the fact that young people could not possible be independent if so many extremists are in power. I replied that many college students didn’t have the opportunity, and many of us are still too young to vote.