From saving the turtles, to stopping forest fires in Australia, to demanding stricter gun reform in the United States—if I were to go on Instagram right now, I would be greeted with handfuls of posts and Insta-stories from my peers calling out these issues and more that the United States and the rest of the world currently face. Even though these issues might vary in importance from one user to another, to me, these posts indicate that my generation has a lot to say about the state of our country.

However, in the 2018 midterm elections, voter turnout was only a feeble 36 percent among young adults. To me, this is shocking because voting gives citizens the opportunity to implement change and to choose who represents them. Important voices are lost when people don’t vote. There are many potential catalysts behind this problem: a lack of civics curriculum being taught in high schools, voter apathy due to the misconception that a person’s vote won’t make a difference, or politics becoming increasingly uncivil just to name a few. However, with every problem, there are solutions.

One form of action I’ve taken to address the lack of voter turnout in young adults is the organization I founded, called Teens to the Tally (TTTT), which seeks to increase voting among 18-to-29-year-olds and find ways to help those who are not of voting age to become more politically active. I decided to take charge because I believe our generation can complain about America’s problems all they want, but little will change will come if we don’t vote.

Source: Sam Brody

Additionally, minority/young adult under-representation in politics can lead to those in power implementing policies that don’t take into consideration the wants and needs of underrepresented groups. Therefore, by educating this slice of the voter population about the importance of voting, while motivating them to vote and providing resources for them to register to vote, we can make a direct impact on America’s problems and policies. TTTT also aims to combat the effects of adultism in policy-making, and one way of fixing this is by educating as many teens as possible about the impact teenagers and young adults are able to have in politics. Some great examples of young activists changing the way young people approach politics include Greta Thunberg and Yara Shahidi.

So far, Teens to the Tally has its own Instagram account with hundreds of followers and over 150 informative posts. The team conducts weekly meetings in downtown Chicago and holds events such as congressional fantasy football, high school student voter registration drives, voter pledges, and mock elections. Sometimes at school I’ll even go up to students, ask them when their birthday is and if they’re registered to vote. If they’re not registered to vote, I sit down with them and show them the registration process.

Not only has running this organization allowed me to strengthen my creativity, organizational skills, political knowledge, and leadership, but it also has let me actually do something about an issue that I’m extremely passionate about, instead of just posting about it on social media. For the other members of this organization, Teens to the Tally has been a great chance for them to learn more about politics and find ways to stay politically active in addition to voting, such as interning for elected officials, volunteering for campaigns, writing letters to those in power, and much more.

With primaries just around the corner, I’m getting excited to post a lot more content on our Instagram account and create even more interesting activities to get involved in through the organization. I also hope to expand this organization to colleges, instead of just at high schools. I am always looking for new ideas to implement. If you want to get involved with Teens to the Tally, follow us on Instagram @teenstothetally or send an email our way at teenstothetally@gmail.com, and most importantly, don’t forget to get out and vote in 2020 during primaries and the November general election!

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