Newark is breaking barriers, becoming the first city in New Jersey to lower its voting age for school board elections.
Newark City Council members voted Wednesday in favor of 16- and 17-year-olds taking part in the election process, joining only the cities Oakland and Berkeley in California and a handful of towns across the U.S. to ask for the opinions of teens inside the voting booth.
Raisa Rubin-Stankiewicz, state policy lead for March For Our Lives New Jersey, spoke during the hearing, saying that when she was a student, she attended every monthly Board of Ed meeting in her hometown.
She said youth have the power to effect change on the issues that affect them the most, such as gun violence, mental health investments, curriculum, and the ability to vote in referendums that impact school buildings and facilities.
“I think it’s especially important that this is happening in Newark. Their residents know what it is like to not have the ability to choose representatives for school board because of the decades that Newark spent under state takeover,” she said. “Through lowering the age of school board elections we put pressure on high schools and governments to invest in civic education curriculum. … Voting is not a zero-sum game and by expanding the franchise, by expanding the vote, we only make our democracy more fair and better for everyone.”
Would you support your town in lowering the voting age?
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