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Young voters helping to shape local, national politics

Student government involvement, efforts on the rise at one Glendale high school

Posted 2/16/21

A contentious election plus daily reminders of what can bring out the worst in politics haven’t weakened young people’s interest in a governmental matrix that can shape their own world.

In fact, evidence suggests the opposite.

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Subscriber Exclusive

Young voters helping to shape local, national politics

Student government involvement, efforts on the rise at one Glendale high school

Posted

A contentious election plus daily reminders of what can bring out the worst in politics haven’t weakened young people’s interest in a governmental matrix that can shape their own world.

In fact, evidence suggests the opposite.

The latest numbers from a new analysis by Washington-based nonprofit Clean & Prosperous America finds voting by those age 18 to 29 in 2020 ran 146% higher than in 2016, including a major increase of 126% from that age group in Arizona.

“I love looking at politics. I think it’s really interesting, especially the background of it and the cultural stances of it,” said Isaac Cabral, a senior at Mountain Ridge High School, 22800 N. 67th Ave. in Glendale, who participates in the campus’ student government program. “I do look at local level and state level because I’m in AP government right now and we talk a lot about federalism, and how it affects the states compared to a giant, nationwide government. That’s why I look at it quite a bit.”

A Washington Post survey of more than 25,000 early voters in exit polls showed the 18-29 age demographic made up 16% of all Arizona voters, of which 63% voted for Joe Biden. That represented the biggest age block to vote for the Democratic candidate.

Even the harsh political climate, however, can reach young voters’ environments as well.

“Definitely at our school I saw a lot of division,” fellow government student Gavin Anderson shared. “I just noticed that friends weren’t necessarily turning on you but like staying distant. It was just like weird communication, and so I kind of like got confused for a little bit. Like I understood their reason, maybe why people were staying distant. But it definitely caused weird division amongst us that we’re really not used to seeing. But once it was over it kind of like went back to normal.”

Mountain Ridge’s student government program held freshman elections before the holiday break and had 12 students run for four spots. The kids work on community projects including the St. Mary’s Project Hunger competition, which raises food and money for the Valley food bank. Mountain Ridge students annually lead the state in the competition. During the 2018 contest, the Mountain Ridge student government program donated $4,000 and 20,531 pounds of food. The next closest school was Xavier College Prep in Phoenix, which donated 1,178 pounds.

“As far as things go with kids and interest with what we do here at school with our student government, I would say (interest is) up,” said 15-year student government adviser and math teacher Doug Evans.

Other on-campus efforts focus on assemblies, Make-a-Wish drives, and raising money for prom and homecoming activities. The group has a constitution, bylaws and features eight student body positions, similar to an executive board including representatives from each class, senior through freshman.

“We try to reach out to everyone on campus to try and get feedback about what we’re doing, what we could do better,” senior Tanner Olson said. “Just to try and make it a fun place to go to school and have good events.”

In past years, students have shown interest in the city of Glendale’s Mayor’s Advisory Council and have had representatives on the Governor’s Council and the Superintendent’s Advisory, Mr. Evans reported.

Interest lately, though, hasn’t been at the city level. At a January meeting, the City Council voted to amend a code for the city’s Library Advisory Board and its Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission that had required that two members be high school students to broaden representation. The students are voting members of the boards.

With the boards having difficulty filling student vacancies, the boards have had trouble establishing meeting quorums and have had to vacate or cancel meetings as a result.

“We’ve had great difficulty in filling the student vacancies,” city clerk Julie Bower reported at the time.

However, Mr. Evans says he’s been contacted in the past about student advisory openings, but says “this year I haven’t gotten much of anything.”

Some Mountain Ridge student government members didn’t know the outreach committees existed.

“I feel like we’re not being asked to be involved in a way. They kind of more talk to our parents and stuff like that,” senior Madison Smith said. “We don’t think we have to be involved in anything because we don’t know anything that’s happening. I didn’t know anything about these commissions at all.”

There is an interest in government at the local level, though.

“I look at the local governments, especially ever since the pandemic started,” senior Anjali Patel said. “It’s interesting to look how each state handles how they’re taking care of it.”

The boost in youth voting can be attributed partly to politics’ presence on social media. This past October, Forbes reported the Snapchat platform helped more than 1 million users register for November’s presidential elections, with nearly two-thirds of those registered being 24 or younger.

One organization, Vote16USA, a national campaign launched in 2015, supports efforts to lower the voting age on the local level, help start new local campaigns, and elevate the issue of lowering the voting age on a national level. Two communities in Maryland have lowered the voting age to 16 for local elections.

“I think a lot of kids are super interested in it, it’s just that everyone has very different and strong opinions,” Mountain Ridge senior Anna Hanson said of teenage interest in politics and government. “People don’t feel comfortable sometimes speaking out how I feel... so I think it’s more of a comfortable thing. Because you get a lot of backlash on how you feel no matter what side you’re on.”