The Fight For Youth Voting Rights

The Leslie Marshall Show

Today's guest hosts are Edwith Theogene and Charlotte Hancock, Organizing Director and Communications Director for Generation Progress.

During today's show they discuss the 50th anniversary of the ratification of the 26th Amendment, which lowered the voting age in the United States to 18. The amendment was a huge win for young Americans who had fought for this right and recognition of the fact that young adults deserve to have a voice in the makeup of their government.

The struggle for equal and unencumbered access to voting for all Americans continues to this day in the face of blatant voter suppression efforts that disproportionately impact Black people and other people of color. Young people have been consistent leaders in the fight to protect the freedom to vote and reform our democracy, and that is definitely true of young people today—who turned out in historic numbers in the 2020 election and are now fighting to ensure that all Americans are able to continue participating in and being represented by their democracy.

To discuss this momentous anniversary and all that still must be done to protect voting rights for young Americans, Edwith and Charlotte are joined by two expert guests:

Clarissa Unger, Director of the Students Learn Students Vote Coalition, and Wambui Gatheru, the Interim Director of Programs at the Andrew Goodman Foundation.

Generation Progress' website is GenProgress.org and their Twitter handle is @GenProgress. Edwith Theogene's Twitter handle is @WhoIsEdwith and Charlotte Hancock's handle is @CharlatAnne. Clarissa Unger's Twitter handle is @uclarissa and the handle for the Students Learn Students Vote Coalition is @SLSVCoalition. The Twitter handle for the Andrew Goodman Foundation is @AndrewGoodmanF.