The right to vote is not in the Constitution. There is no federal protection of our right to vote, and voting rights are entirely determined by states.
Too often, I hear from professional journalists, professors, family members and politicians:
“Well, young people don’t vote.”
So why should I care then, that my right to vote is not constitutional?
Because in actuality, young people do vote.
After the lecture, Wayne State Professor and Historian Liette Gidlow, this year’s speaker for the annual Coy James American History Lecture, asked who in the audience would be voting for the first time – nearly 15 hands shot up. The rest of the audience, myself included, put our hands together and cheered as Gidlow said to them: “Welcome.”
What could the world look like, I wonder, if we welcomed more young people into the voting sphere? What might they start to envision if they felt their vote mattered?
I learned about the lack of constitutional voter protection from Gidlow. When she said that, I was taken aback and I had to ask myself: Why was that so shocking to me?
This question led me to examine my privilege. I realized I was so surprised because I had always felt secure in my right to vote. It was a right I always knew I had, and I never questioned where that right came from.
It is also a privilege to live and vote in Michigan, where you can register to vote up until Election Day, where ballot boxes are placed at each clerk’s office and where you can vote even if you have a felony or awaiting trial in prison. A state where you don’t need to have a state ID on your person or have a home or stable address to vote and our voting rights are protected by the Michigan Voting Rights Act.
I did not always know these protections existed, nor that they needed to exist. My privilege allowed me to believe that everyone has the same right to vote as I do.
I know now that is most certainly not true. According to Gidlow, at present, 31 states have enacted at least 114 restrictive voting laws between 2021 and 2024. This year, it is estimated that 4 million voters will be disenfranchised due to prior felonies.
“The right to vote has never been guaranteed,” Gidlow said. “It is precious, but it is also precarious.”
My History With Citizenship, Voting
I was fortunate enough to attend a private school through 5th grade and finish my education in the Berkley School District. It was there that my passion for storytelling was fostered, my love of literature. I learned not what to think, but how to think.
But, although I was well-educated K-12, I was not taught how to be a citizen in the United States of America.
My knowledge of voting was confined to going with my mom to the polls in 2014 to vote in a local election, and watching my father fill out his absentee ballot in 2016. I knew voting was a thing I could do, a thing I should do, but I did not grasp its importance.
It was not until I got to college and became politically aware and engaged that I started to learn, quite frankly, very basic civics.
I took government and history courses each year, and yet did not learn what a primary election was. We did not discuss the importance of local elections, and how they impact our daily lives far more than presidential ones. Before I worked at the Detroit Free Press this summer, my knowledge of the Michigan House of Representatives was confined to one 4th grade field trip to Lansing.
I used to be ashamed of my lack of civic knowledge, but I know I am not alone. And that’s a problem that cannot be solved without the recognition that it is one.
Teaching About the Importance of Voting, Championing Young Voters
After I wrote my first column for the Detroit Free Press (I’m going to be a teacher. Will I die from gun violence in my classroom?), my editor asked me if I really wanted to be a teacher.
When I said yes, she said, about me: “Teaching’s win is journalism’s loss.”
Those words have been swirling around in my head ever since. So I asked myself: “Why don’t I want to be a journalist? Why do I want to teach instead? Am I sure I still want to teach?”
The short answer is yes, though the decision was not an easy one. I am a person who could do many things and choosing one was difficult.
Ultimately though, I recognized that I want to be part of the next generation of teachers who challenge their students to think differently and give them the tools and knowledge to do so.
But what can I do, as someone who grew up without considering the importance of acknowledging the precious nature of my right to vote, as editor-in-chief, a future educator, student and citizen to change the understanding of what the right to vote looks like?
I believe my generation and the ones coming will recognize the necessity of political engagement and action; I have faith that we will begin to build a better world.
But that world cannot exist, or even be dreamed of, if we do not encourage the next generation of voters.
We cannot expect young people to want to vote if we do not teach them about its importance and continue to foster it as they grow. We must champion our young voters and see their value, rather than dismiss them.
According to a national survey of 18-29-year-olds in America, done by the Harvard Institute of Politics, nearly two-thirds of young Americans have more fear than hope about the future of democracy in America.
I can’t say I blame them; I’ve barely dipped my pinky toe into the civil society world and sometimes I still catch myself shivering. But, as anyone who has swum in Lake Superior knows, you’ve gotta dive in and wait. Eventually, it’ll stop feeling so cold.
I shiver less as I watch advocates and journalists do good work. I get warmer when I see the impact I can have on encouraging my peers to be politically engaged and vote. But we must ask ourselves: What does the world look like if young people are scared away from voting?
I, for one, do not want to live in that world. In fact, I refuse to live in that world. I believe that there is a better world for young voters out there. And I’m willing to do the work while I fight for the world that I envision.
A world where a young person can dip their toes into the voting pool and have no reason to shiver.
Voter Resources & Deadlines
Michigan Deadlines
- The last day to register to vote online is Monday.
- In-person registration with a local clerk with proof of residency is allowed between Tuesday and Election Day (you can register to vote in-person in Michigan until 8 p.m. on Election Day!)
- Early voting is from Oct. 26 to Nov. 3.
- General Election Day is Nov. 5.
Other Michigan Resources
Out-of-State Voter Resources
Vote.org is a nonpartisan website that allows you to do anything from checking your registration status to seeing what’s on your local ballot.
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