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As a Wake County high school graduate, I can tell you what the U.S. Constitution is. I can tell you about the Nineteenth Amendment and how it guarantees my right to vote as a woman. I learned all of this in my required Civics course during my freshman year.
What I didn’t learn was how to vote.
I can tell you who the U.S. President is and how I learned about the electoral college system that got him there.
What I didn’t learn was who my local legislators are and what role they play in passing laws that, arguably, impact me more than any federal public official does.
This is the unfortunate reality of civics education across North Carolina — and really, across the nation — that is leaving my generation uneducated and unprepared on how to be civically engaged. Currently, students are heavily educated on the historical foundations of our country and on the major public figures they hear so frequently about in the news. What they aren’t taught are how to practically exercise their right to vote, engage with their local legislators, and advocate for concrete local change.
We see the negative impacts of this in our communities, but we also see it in the numbers. In the 2022 General Election, less than a quarter of registered voters ages 18-25 in North Carolina voted, with only a 24.1% turnout rate.
With youth voters having the lowest voter turnout rate of any age group across the state, it is more crucial now than ever that efforts to register and turn out young voters become more equitable and effective. This starts with civics education in high school by ensuring that students are taught more than just history.
Being taught how to register to vote is critical for high school juniors and seniors as many are eligible for voter pre-registration. In North Carolina, pre-registration allows 16- and 17-year-olds to fill out the registration form and become automatically registered when they turn 18.
When I was a junior, many of my friends didn’t even know what voter pre-registration was. The ones that did had already pre-registered through the Division of Motor Vehicles when they got their driver’s license.
This pathway to voter pre-registration, while helpful, often disproportionality favors higher socioeconomic status students due to the economic barriers of getting a driver’s license, such as being able to afford gas or a car. By implementing this education into high schools, students across the state will be more equitably reached.
Already, schools commonly host voter registration drives during lunch periods or between classes, but with students’ busy schedules these options are not convenient or motivating enough for most students. A more effective option would be to give students time in class to pre-register after being taught about the process. Moreover, this lesson could be followed up with an in-class voting demonstration to make the in-person polling process more familiar and comfortable for students.
Beyond these simple changes, however, students still oftentimes lack basic knowledge of the importance of local governments and elections.
It’s not enough for students to simply know how to vote. They must know what they’re voting for, nationally and locally. In many ways, an uneducated vote can be just as harmful as no vote at all.
Instead, schools should push for students to be educated about offices down the ballot. They might know who the presidential candidates are and what power they’ll have in office, but do they know about the role of the District Attorney and who the candidates are? What about the State Superintendent and their impact on local education?
As we look to the 2024 Presidential election this November, we’re sure to see the youth vote become more consequential than ever before. Regardless of political views, every young voter deserves to exercise this fundamental right because in a thriving democracy, every single voice should be heard — not just the voices of those who already have the resources to make themselves heard.
By educating and empowering students to vote, our electoral process becomes more equitable, and the power of democracy rightfully falls back to the people.