FALLS CHURCH, Va. — A group of seniors at Marshall High School in Fairfax County are working with members of Congress on a bill that would make voting more accessible for young people.
Called the High School Voter Empowerment Act, it would designate secondary schools as voter registration agencies — requiring public high schools to conduct annual voter registration drives to register eligible students.
Samad Quraishi said the idea first came to him when he was watching Tik Toks about voter empowerment and education.
"It's such a big issue where so many young people simply don't want to get involved. So I did some online digging, and I found out there was a bill a few years ago that had been introduced, but it never really got far," Quraishi said. "And so we decided that this should be the initiative that we support if we want, you know, a federal initiative to get high schoolers registered to vote."
He and some classmates reworked the bill to make it more likely to pass in Congress, and then they started meeting with various representatives.
Over the last year, they have met with more than 250 Congressional offices as well as the White House's counsel to the Vice President.
"We would go to school, right? And then at the end of the day, we would go into some sort of school bathroom, we would change into our business clothes, and people would be like, Why is she wearing a suit?" senior Eleanor Liang said. "But we would go take our meetings, and at first I was really scared, because I was like, I'm just a high schooler, like, what if these people don't take me seriously? But as I had more meetings, I realized they care about what the American citizens think; they care about the youth, and they're really happy to hear us speak up about the issues that are important to us."
As part of the process, Liang, Quraishi, and their peers started the organization Centre for Voters Initiative and Action, which advocates for youth representation in government.
Quraishi said this involvement begins at the ballot box.
“I think voting is the cornerstone of democracy, and we've seen that when young people are encouraged and educated at an early age, then they will get involved later on in the civic process," he said. "I think that's super important, because if young people really want to make a change in their community, as we've seen from the issues, from, you know, the climate crisis, to health care to abortion rights, whatever we feel about an issue, we can't just make a lot of noise. We have to actually go out and vote.”
Voting statistics show that less than half of eligible young voters cast their ballots in the 2020 election, so this group is working to increase that participation.
Neither Liang nor Quraishi is old enough to vote in the 2024 presidential election, but they are pre-registered (permitted under Virginia law), and plan to vote as soon as they are legally able to do so.
"I think it's important for everyone to be able to share their voice, and I think voting is the way to do it," Liang said.
Liang said she was encouraged that they found support on both sides of the aisle.
“One thing that really surprised me is how both Democrats and Republicans in Congress were able to work with us. Because I think, as a young person nowadays, on social media, we see how the political environment is so extremely fragmented and polarized," she said. "When in real life, they're just normal people, you know, and they're willing to listen to us, they're willing to work together. I think that it's really special that our bill is bipartisan, that we're able to work with people from both sides.”
As the bill awaits committee review, this group wants to inspire their peers to follow their passions.
"I think the biggest lesson is that you know you don't need to have a lot of qualifications or experience. I think that you know, if you're a young person and you're really passionate and motivated about a cause, that's what's really important," Quraishi said. "Work hard, put your mind to it, and, you know, really have a desire for something, and then you can succeed. And I think that, you know, don't let anyone ever tell you no, because it was certainly, you know, impossible to us a year ago, but we were able to make it happen with enough work and, you know, resilience."
The latest update on the bill is that it was referred to committees in the House and Senate in April of this year. The group said they are hoping to reintroduce it next year.