You can’t vote, so start volunteering

But when I listened to the other juniors in my class, they were all far more pessimistic. During our share out, I was the only student who thought that expanding the right to vote was a good thing. Everyone else thought that 16 year olds were far too likely to base their vote on misinformation on social media, the input of their parents or peer pressure from their friends. Employing a shocking amount of self-reflection, some said they might take an election as a joke rather than something with practical ramifications for their lives and futures.

Of course, I know for a fact that many 16 year olds understand the sacred duty and civic responsibility that voting represents. A lot of my friends do know as much about the electoral process and the candidates running for office as most adults. And honestly, my English class might not be an accurate sample of American 16 year olds; we are a privileged subset of the population that probably does not understand how the outcome of an election can affect everyday realities.

But regardless, we should pause and think before immediately accepting that every teenager deserves to vote. More importantly, the conversation in my English class made me reconsider what it means to be engaged in the political process. No matter their age, a civically-engaged individual can do more than vote every two or four years or argue about policy decisions with their family over the dinner table at Thanksgiving.

And young people do not abdicate that same responsibility to be engaged simply because they don’t have the ability to vote. If we want to have an impact on who represents us at the local, state and national level, there is nothing stopping us from joining a campaign, calling voters for an issue that gets our blood boiling or knocking doors for a candidate that makes us envision a brighter future.

I volunteer on a local congressional campaign, and every single time that I talk to a voter, I remember why I love working in politics. People care deeply about each other and about the future of this country, and they genuinely want to have conversations about the candidates who can best represent our interests. Your average voter does not care whether they’re having that conversation with a high school student, a teacher, a doctor, an engineer or a grandparent. Most of the time, they might actually trust you more if you’re a teenager who cares enough to walk precincts at 10 a.m. on a Saturday or make phone calls at 7 p.m. on a Tuesday. When they’re at the polls on Election Day, maybe they’ll see a candidate on their ballot and think of your face, your name and your commitment. Maybe, just maybe, that memory will change their vote.

The point is, people younger than 18 can’t vote, and likely won’t be able to vote in the immediate future. I haven’t quite decided whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing. But I do know that if a teenager is determined and passionate and dedicated enough, there is nothing that should hold them back from affecting the political process on a grassroots level.

We’re just over two weeks from Election Day. So, teenagers and students, don’t let your inability to vote deter you from caring about what happens in the upcoming election. Instead, let it fuel you. Let it force you to think more deeply about how you can change the world around you. And then let it push you out to the streets, onto the phone and into conversations that matter.

Elise Spenner is a junior at Burlingame High School. Student News appears in the weekend edition. You can email Student News at news@smdailyjournal.com.