Youth might not be able to vote, but they are definitely thinking about these elections. Charlie Zeitlin is a junior in high school, the vice chair for the California Association of Youth Commissions, and a member of the Palo Alto Youth Council. He's also KALW's youth reporter, and the host of our new series, Youth Voices Matter, the new generation's point of view.
Charlie's been talking to many of his peers about these midterms, noting that many of them are volunteering and have strong opinions about the future that is being voted for them.
The young people in my orbit consistently line up against most of the anti-immigrant and pro-billionaire policies of the administration. I would say they're really concerned about issues that affect them. I think they're really worried about the future of democracy, how strong our, our elections will be. I would say that they're very concerned with the current administration and some of the really aggressive immigration policies that they've pursued. Some of the ballot propositions in California, youth are thinking a lot about them. Prop 39 and Prop 40 especially, they've told me about how they've seen so many ads for these propositions. Their parents are talking about them, and they have strong opinions. They were really worried that [Prop 39] could lead to voter suppression and less people having access to voting. On the Prop 40 side, a lot of people that I spoke to were worried that billionaires could leave the state and it would hurt California economically.
