Fifteen-year-old Mahsiah Imes of Jersey City, New Jersey, is leading an effort to lower the city’s voting age in local elections to 16. The Jersey Journal reports that his effort “is part of a nationwide push to lower the voting age from 18 to 16 to ignite civic engagement among younger citizens.” Imes told the…
Several European nations are considering lowering their voting age to 16. A bill to reduce the voting age from 18 to 16 in local elections is advancing in the Estonian parliament, while Ireland’s Fianna Fáil party is calling for a voting age reduction in local elections by 2019. Meanwhile, scholars at the UK’s University of…
*A few spoilers below, but not too bad In The Force Awakens, J.J. Abrams brings a volatile new villain to the screen: Kylo Ren, the latest apprentice of the Dark Side, plagued by fits of rage and the same family hang-ups faced by many characters in the Star Wars franchise. But unlike most other Star…
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….
