Consumer advocate and independent Presidential candidate Ralph Nader announced recently that he supports the growing effort to lower the voting age. No matter how you may feel about Nader’s candidacy in general, this is a huge boost for Youth Rights. Nader has a core group of dedicated supporters, many of whom have probably visited NYRA’s…
Without a vote, donating to political campaigns is one of the few ways for youth to take an active role in the political system. Recognizing this, the Supreme Court ruled recently to overturn a ban on campaign contributions from young people. The Federal Elections Commission is taking advice from NYRA’s legal advisor, Keith Mandell who…
Between April 24th and 25th, NYRA recruited over 550 members. The bulk of the 550 recruits were found at the Pro-Choice rally in Washington DC, which was one of the largest US demonstrations in history, on the 24th NYRA recruited at Youth Pride Day and the anti-World Bank/IMF rally also in DC. NYRA also $170…
The bill proposed by California State Senator John Vasconcellos, (D- San Jose) that will grant half of a vote to sixteen year olds, and one fourth of a vote to fourteen year olds, passed the Committee on Elections and Reappointment Wednesday May 5 on a 3-2 vote. The hearing began with testimony from well known…
On May 5th, NYRA President Alex Koroknay-Palicz will testify before lawmakers in California. He will be testifying on behalf of a proposed bill that will give sixteen year olds on half and fourteen year olds one quarter of a vote. If this passes it will surely set a precedent in our country and lead to…
In response to his frequent criticism of proposals to lower the voting age, NYRA officially challenges Curtis Gans, director of the Committee for the Study of the American Electorate to a debate on the issue. In a Boston Globe article that NYRA appeared in on September 9, Curtis Gans had this to say about lowering…
In order to strengthen contacts within the NYRA membership, and create a new forum where ideas concerning NYRA can be discussed, NYRA will be holding regular Youth Rights chats. The online chats will take place on both the first Monday and the third Tuesday of every month, between 9pm and 1am Eastern time(6pm – 10pm…
The last week has seen a huge amount of media attention for NYRA and the voting age issue. A bill proposed by California state senator John Vasconcellos (D- Santa Clara) would, if passed, give 16 year olds one half of a vote, and fourteen year olds one fourth of a vote. While this bill is…
On March 2nd, “Super Tuesday” members of NYRA’s Berkeley, California chapter protested the voting age. Led by area member Robert Reynolds, they got up early together against ageism. The group, consisting of six students and other supporters of all ages, held up signs with slogans such as “Got a ballot? We need them”. At one…
Since 1998, NYRA’s Board of Directors meetings were open only to board members. For years board members have been debating whether or not to open the meetings. The argument against such a resolution has always been that if a new member comes to an unproductive meeting they will get a bad first impression of NYRA….
