Ballots and Brains: Encouraging young people to vote By Ella Namiranian

Photo: The State House by Boston Common (Stockx/Pixabay)

For the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, four high schoolers around Boston will attend MassVOTE’s Young Civic Leaders program to encourage young people to make an impact in their communities.

Less than a fifth of young voters voted in the 2022 MA midterm election. (Source: Tufts Research)
MassVOTE is an organization that works to protect voting rights for people, particularly people in low-income communities,” said Bridgit Brown, the leader of the program.
Bridgit Brown, leader of the Young Civic Leader program (Ella Namiranian/NEHSJC)

Founded in 2007 by MassVOTE Executive Director Cheryl Clyburn Crawford, the Young Civic Leaders program was begun as a response to the lack of youth understanding of and involvement in American politics and government.

This summer, Brown plans on taking the students to visit political institutions, such as the Statehouse, where they will meet Gov. Maura Healey and her council members.

The exterior of the Massachusetts State House (Stockx/Pixabay)

During the program, students will also create a webpage on Massvote.org. This year, the website will educate the electorate on the candidates running for the Governor’s Council and their role in various legislations, the appointment of judges, and the granting of pardons.

Map of different districts with Governors' Council candidates (Ella Namiranian/NEHSJC, Christina Prignano/Boston Globe)

Although members worked to encourage the public to vote for upcoming elections through the MassVOTE webpage, participation became limited due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the summer program was temporarily shut down.

In the past few years, involvement increased again, which prompted MassVOTE to restart the summer program.

Before the pandemic, students started the work that will be continued this summer. After workshops and hands-on activities, the students conducted mini-lectures around the city and at different schools like Suffolk University. The students also added resources to the MassVOTE webpage to spread political awareness to primarily low-income communities and youth in Boston.

Previous Young Civic Leaders (YCL/MASSvote)
The program was pivotal because it opened me up to the possibilities [of] the real world and how we can change things,” said Vivian Mihali, a member of the program from 2017 to 2020. "It really influenced me,” she said.