MADISON, Wis. – Aviel Mack can’t vote in Tuesday’s election, but she’s still working to build a future she can believe in and hoping to inspire those who can to head to the polls.
The 16-year-old is one of several kids in southern Wisconsin taking part in the Urban League’s “Vote for Me” video campaign, which seeks to compel eligible voters to get engaged.
“I want to make sure that my sisters and me grow up in a world that includes us and that is very accepting of who we are,” Mack said. “I think that that’s a lot of what youth in the community want as well.
She said she’s always been passionate about youth advocacy and particularly giving a voice to people of color, so she thought the campaign was a good way to try and make a difference.
President and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Madison Dr. Ruben Anthony said not only are kids interested in policy and policymakers, they understand what’s at stake.
“You wonder how these kids can get it and a lot of other adults don’t,” Anthony said. “They’re looking at where we’re headed, they’re looking at the dysfunction of the American political system and they’re concerned about — are we going do the right things for them into the future?”
Mack’s peers at West High School are also finding their own ways to get engaged led by social studies teacher Carrie Bohman. Bohman said after 19 years at West, it’s still her dream job, and she’s proud to see her students take action.
“Social studies for me should be alive and a lot of fun,” she said. “Those policies impact them and they have a voice and I want them to be an active participant now.”
On Friday, hundreds of students filled the school’s auditorium to take part in a civics forum that was organized and moderated by their classmates.
Sophomore Luke Olson said when he started doing outreach for the event, there were a lot of responses from students who shared what issues they wanted the forum to cover. He believes it’s never too early to start being civically engaged.
“You’re going to be more likely to want to vote if you’re educated about the voting topic because you’re not going to go in and you’re not going to look at a sheet of paper and be like I don’t know any of these names,” he said.
The forum featured four local public officials who spoke to students about a wide range of issues. Student moderator Adah Lambeck said she’s hoping they will remain motivated with future elections in mind.
“The amount of people that don’t vote for the reason of they don’t think that one vote can make a difference—that group of people is huge,” she said. “If we can get that group of people involved in voting it could shift the political dynamic.”
However, until those students can make that choice to vote for themselves, they want the help of others doing what they can’t.
“I want people to think about me,” Mack said “and my little sisters’ faces when they go to the voting polls.”
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