When Hyattsville, MD lowered its voting age on January 6th, 2015- I was thrilled. It was my birthday, and the news brought joy to my heart. For so long, I was waiting for some organization or person to take the lead in the fight for youth suffrage. Hyattsville became the second city in the United…
Adultism, a term known to us in the youth rights movement, has been getting a bit of attention lately. Used, like ageism, to describe discrimination against youth (or an addiction to the attitudes, ideas, beliefs, and actions of adults), the term was included in a list of inclusive terminology by the University of Missouri. With…
A Washington Post op-ed by William Frey of the Brookings Institution, a population studies professor at the University of Michigan, makes a good case for lowering the voting age. Frey writes that “nearly half of the nation’s under-18 population is made up of racial minorities, while 70 percent of voting-age citizens are white. The United…
Taking place shortly after the first organizing meeting of the #16tovote coalition in Washington, DC, this #16tovote on the 16th was a bit of a rebirth for the campaign. With only sporadic occurrences over the last few years, this month’s #16tovote on the 16th came back with a vengeance. 128 unique tweets, 232 retweets, 189…
Bridgeton, New Jersey, Mayor Al Kelly backs lowering the voting age to 16. In The South Jersey Times, Kelly writes, “In many states, 16 and 17-year-olds begin to drive and many hold their first jobs at that age, and should they have a job, they pay taxes. They also become bona fide shoppers and consumers….
From the ACLU: Louisiana passed a law this year that is a foolhardy attempt by one state to regulate the Internet. By doing so, the state’s lawmakers threaten the First Amendment rights of adult publishers and readers, as well as minors, because it censors valuable speech. And despite these troubling impacts, the law is totally…
NYRA’s newest chapter has just been formed in Hudson County, New Jersey! Founded by chapter president Mahsiah Imes this July, the chapter has been building up its membership and things are kicking into high gear now. Mahsiah and other chapter leaders circulated a survey to students at Chaplain Charles J. Watters School in Jersey City….
The movement to lower the voting age is growing all over the world, and as always, the best place to go for research, arguments and updates about that movement is the NYRA website. The Voting Age Status Report has been updated to include new developments and new campaigns working on lowering the voting age. All…
Social media is home to lots of horrendous things. Unfortunately the ageist forces of anti-youth hate often find supportive audiences online. Public shaming videos where parents bully their children and proudly brag about it online are depressingly common. Even more depressing are the millions of parents who pass it around as an example of “good…
The Richmond Youth Council, a city-appointed advisory commission in Richmond, California, a city of 108,000, “recently decided to join San Francisco youth in a campaign called “16 in ’16,” which seeks to lower the voting age to 16 in municipal and school board elections,” according to Richmond Confidential, a local website. Richmond Confidential says that…
