My School Votes, and yours can too
By: My School Votes Student Ambassadors
Over 3 million students will turn 18 this year and are eligible to register to vote, but only 23% of eligible voters under 20 years old cast ballots in the 2018 midterm elections.
We, as young people, are leading the movement for change and are not waiting for others to take action. We’re proudly connecting, collaborating, and mobilizing our communities to get registered and ready to vote through When We All Vote’s My School Votes initiative.
My School Votes is made up of young student leaders from across the country with the goal of getting every eligible high school student registered to vote. As passionate young people, My School Votes gives us the opportunity to make a difference and encourage our peers to feel empowered.
Over the course of this unprecedented summer, we’ve been working with young people across the country to organize our communities. The crazy thing is not all of us are eligible to vote yet, and we have never even met each other in-person. Yet we’ve been successful in equipping young organizers with the tools and resources they need to organize their schools.
Over these final weeks until Election Day, we’re looking forward to sharing our stories from every corner of the country with you about how we’re on the frontlines of democracy getting our schools and communities registered to vote.
Young people around the country are standing up against injustice, speaking truth to power, and making their voices heard from home in their virtual classroom to the ballot box. If an entirely youth-led voter registration initiative can engage school communities across the nation during a pandemic, clearly, nothing can stop us!
Our national progress, so far…
Nationally recognized for historic youth voter efforts, My School Votes is unlike anything we’ve ever seen. With support from Michelle Obama, our team of students is equipped to engage young people across the nation in this upcoming historic election and every election after that.
We have trained more than 3,500 students and 1,300 teachers from more than 500 schools active in My School Votes. With more than 1,000 My School Votes ambassadors, our team of student volunteers organizing their school communities to get out the vote, we have sent over 100,000 direct messages recruiting and getting young people registered and ready to vote. So far, we’ve already registered over 24,00 people!
Why join My School Votes?
Anisa Botros — “My School Votes allowed me to find a space where I can be both a leader and an advocate. Activism has always been important to me, especially growing up as a Sudanese-American in predominantly non-Black spaces. Advocating for social issues is a necessity for me because I know what it feels like to not have accurate representation and my civic engagement work with My School Votes has given me the opportunity to further advocate and uplift Black voices. ”
Anika Attaluri — “ As a 17-year old first-generation American and ambassador fellow from Arizona, I understand how daunting the voting process can be for first-time voters. I was ecstatic to join My School Votes this summer to provide my community with credible information and support so everyone can feel confident about their ballot! Empowering students across Arizona to create change in our community is my priority as I recruit new students to join us and get registered to vote.”
My School Votes, and yours can too!
With our one-of-a-kind My School Votes virtual voter registration model, we’re crashing virtual classrooms and taking time to walk our peers through the voter registration process. Together, we are turning our schools into a hub for voter action, and we hope you can join us!
Here’s how you can get involved with My School Votes.
- Sign up for the welcome call on Wednesdays at 4 pm PST / 7 pm EST.
- Create your own voter registration page to register your friends to vote!
- Join your regional state team meeting & bring 5 friends with you!
- Present to your virtual classrooms on the importance of voting!
- Get your classmates registered to vote!
Join your state / regional team call:
Arizona — Florida — Georgia — North Carolina — Pennsylvania — Wisconsin
When We All Vote is dedicated to changing the culture around voting and closing the race and age gap in voter registration to increase voter turnout in every election. My School Votes, our youth voter initiative, aims to empower educators and students to change the culture around voting in their schools, and ensure that all students are registered and ready to vote in every election. Join us at WhenWeAllVote.org.
