By Caryn Scheel, 2024 Youth as Solutions Adult Mentor

As we enter the last weeks of the 2024 election campaigns, teens across the United States are preparing for an election where they don’t have a vote—but they do have a big stake in the outcome. In classrooms and over dinner tables, they talk with family, friends, and neighbors about the issues. They watch the debates and the rallies, understanding that decisions about who represents them in their state and in DC will be made without their direct participation.

But this generation of teens isn’t content to sit on the sidelines while history is being made. They are finding ways to serve their communities while they learn more about elections. As the youth engagement coordinator for Minneapolis Elections & Voter Services, I often talk to students about different ways that they can be involved, and mentor them in their journeys, working to connect them to community and financial resources.

One of the ways high school students have traditionally played a role in elections is by working in the polls on election day. Recruiting these youth poll workers has been a key strategy for growing voters in Minneapolis—one of the “votiest” cities in the state with the highest voter turnout. As poll workers, students learn their state election laws and procedures, and serve as an integral part of the team that sets up and runs election day voting in city halls, schools, parks, churches, museums, event centers, libraries, and more. They often become the go-to people in their families about voting questions.

In early 2024, I recruited a group of teen-aged poll workers from across Minneapolis who wanted to take their knowledge and passions a step further for this historic election. They’ve served as a cohort with NYLC’s Youth as Solutions Civics Crew, thanks to funding from the Minnesota Democracy Expansion Fund. They spent the spring investigating what needs their communities had when it comes to being election-ready, considering the skills they have and those they want to learn, and planning to spearhead projects in their own communities this fall. And the Civics Crew has been busy. Here are some of their work and accomplishments to date:

• Jake and Drew Wesson from Washburn High School petitioned the mayor of Minneapolis to declare the second week in May to be High School Voter Registration Week. They worked with Minneapolis Elections staff to write a proclamation request, and then held events in schools across the city to help their 18-year-old classmates register to vote, find their polling place, and see what’s on their ballot. They also helped 16- and 17-year-old peers pre-register to vote, so they will be vote ready when they turn 18.
• This group of teens participated in staff training at the Minneapolis Early Vote Center by role-playing voters coming through to register and cast their ballots.
• Students helped test voting equipment to see that all the vote counters going out to Minneapolis polling places are configured properly and count accurately.
• Students from Cristo Rey Jesuit Academy and Roosevelt High School advised Minneapolis Elections training staff on creating a class for election workers who speak Spanish, making sure bilingual poll workers get practice with the specialized elections vocabulary they’ll need and be prepared for common issues.
• Ella Cho from The Blake School planned outreach events for the community of Asian voters, exploring voter registration and education at Hmong farmers markets. She also spoke on the Minnesota Secretary of State’s National Voter Registration Day broadcast.
• Students from Washburn High School and Takoda School are running mock elections. They gathered a team of classmates to help and partnered with the Secretary of State’s Office and the YMCA to be part of Minnesota’s statewide mock election.
• Students from Minnehaha Academy are using their film experience, participating with a Clean Elections to create a video on how election judges keep voting secure and with the Minnesota Statewide Student Election Judge Network to create a video about teens’ experiences in polling places.

It’s inspiring to watch these students grow in leadership as they put their learning into action. I’ve been able to observe students who sometimes start out shy and uncertain step up into leadership roles in their polling places, as well as in their schools. These students’ voices are being heard now, as they work to make sure all their neighbors have opportunities to cast their ballots—and remember the people who won’t have a voice but have a huge stake in the outcome.