It’s possible for students to feel overwhelmed at the mention of politics, especially a presidential election. After all, it is a complicated world mainly run by adults significantly older than the populations they represent. Some citizens feel like their votes don't make a difference, or that there is nothing that they can do to affect who gets elected to run their country. For young people without the right to vote, this feeling is even more acute. But many students at Berkeley High School (BHS) have taken matters into their own hands by taking action to educate and influence voters.
Students like Phoebe Dedlow, a senior at BHS, have been getting involved in election efforts targeted towards voters in swing states. Swing states are states in which the two main political parties have similar support among voters. Swing states tend to be the most important states for presidential candidates to win because they generally play a leading role in determining which candidate obtains more electoral college votes.
Dedlow, who is a co-president of the Women's Student Union at BHS, organized a letter writing session dedicated to mobilizing voters in Pennsylvania to vote for Kamala Harris for this presidential election. “There’s a lot of people at our school that would want to be involved but they’re not able to vote for the national election…so we talked about what we can do and I think we felt that letter writing was great,” Dedlow said.
The writing session, which was in collaboration with the BHS Civics Leaders club, had 25 students who participated in writing 60+ cards to potential voters in swing states. The students sent these cards to voters in Pennsylvania, which is a swing state in this upcoming national election. “I think this type of thing has a really big impact on specifically swing states,” Dedlow said, “High school students or anyone showing that they really value (the swing state voters’) opinions…that's the push that people need.”
Letter writing is indeed often the push that people need. In the 2020 presidential election, 17.6 million letters translated to 126,000 votes in 21 states, according to an article on the Time website. While these numbers may seem insignificant in the grand scheme of things, around 0.8 points were influenced by these letters. To put this into greater perspective, candidate Joe Biden won by a margin of 0.2 points in Georgia during the 2020 presidential election. This proved to be vital for Biden's success because it was one of the critical states that helped him secure a decisive victory.
Not only does participating in political activism impact voters across the country, but the experience of mobilizing voters around the country affected Dedlow’s confidence. “The biggest thing I gained was feeling like I have an impact on the election, and that my voice in my postcards is out there and has been received by voters. Knowing that we have an impact, I think (is) really important,” Dedlow said.
Sydney Fair, a BHS junior, also participated in letter writing. They got inspired by their friend, who had reached out asking people if they wanted to fill out cards. “I think that part of getting people to vote can really happen at that local level, just like reaching out to your friends and community and normalizing (voting),” Fair said. In a process similar to Dedlow’s, Fair filled out a template from the organization Vote Forward, decorating each card with a small doodle. Alone, Fair completed around 40 cards.
Letter writing is not the only way students have been getting involved in national voter mobilization efforts. Paul Warren-Boyd, a junior at BHS, went all the way to Las Vegas, Nevada to spread the word in person about presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
“I think this upcoming election is really important,” Warren-Boyd said. He demonstrated his passion for Harris being elected in the hours he took to campaign on her behalf. In 104 degree temperatures, Warren-Boyd walked door to door, speaking to the home owners. “When people would answer, we would say ‘We're with the Nevada Democrats,’ and then we'd look at the list to see if we were talking the right person, and then we (asked) them if they are planning on voting or if they are undecided,” Warren-Boyd said.
By putting himself out there, Warren-Boyd spread an important message to the voters. Oftentimes, speaking directly to a passionate politically educated person was crucial for the voters. “The voters who were leaning Republican were talking a lot about what they see on Fox News (and) misguided perceptions about (political issues),” Warren-Boyd said. Talking to a young progressive person seemed to help many undecided voters come to a conclusion about how to vote. Over a two day, six-hour period, Warren-Boyd knocked on over 100 doors with his family.
Even though the majority of BHS students are too young to vote in the national election, they are still finding a way to make an impact. “If I’m too young to vote and participate in the election in that way, then I can at least do my best to help out these organizations fighting for representation,” Fair said.