RUSA supports Vote16 movement, aims to lower voting age in Jersey City

Earlier this month, the Rutgers University Student Assembly passed a bill supporting the Vote16 movement in Jersey City, a subsection of a nationwide movement to lower the legal voting age to 16 for all municipal elections.

The Daily Targum sat down with leaders of the Vote16 effort to better understand the campaign, how it came to be, the progress being made in Jersey City and the importance of the Assembly vote. 

Marisa Syed, a School of Arts and Sciences sophomore who had proposed the bill to the Assembly and Zachary Yabut, a Rutgers Business School—Newark first-year and Vote@16 Jersey City co-founder, explained the milestones of the average 16-year-old U.S. citizen and how they factor into their insights at the polls.

Syed said the age of 16 opens the gates to working, taxes and driving, all of which are key markers of entering society.

She also explained that high school students usually begin enrolling in civics-focused classes like Advanced Placement U.S. Government and Politics, making it a key point in their lives to strengthen their education. This is also an ideal time to register them to vote, as they may know the most about how to remain civically engaged compared to later in college.

Yabut echoed the same points about the milestones of 16 while also emphasizing that those actions are shaped by officials elected by populaces aged 18 and above. Getting individuals civically engaged, at least in municipal elections, allows them to have a say and builds a habit of completing civic duties they can maintain as they age.

"The goal of this is to not only allow these students to be able to vote for municipal elections … but it's also to instill a practice of civic engagement for the rest of their lives," he said. "It's been seen in Takoma Park, Maryland, where it's been passed for a couple of years now. Because voters have started at 16 and 17, they're continuing to vote for the rest of their lives."

Their pathways to the Vote16 movement, as well as those of Yuraav Padia, a high school student organizer with the movement, and Mussab Ali, Rutgers—Newark alum, former Jersey City Board of Education member and Vote16USA director and current Vote16USA senior advisor, brought a personal note to those assertions.

Yabut explained that he became involved with the Vote16 movement through Ali's Ali Leadership Institute, where the idea to get 16-year-olds into the polls when local candidates were up for election emerged.

Seeing the potential of this legislation, its success in cities like Newark and even his own friends remaining socially engaged through various means encouraged him to continue his activism.

"Some of them had their own nonprofits. We were meeting with elected officials already to push for legislation or to push for certain types of actions to be taken on certain issues," he said. "If we can do that, if we can really do the research and think about issues and make decisions based off of that, I genuinely do believe that 16- and 17-year-olds would be ready to vote."

Padia built on those points, adding that expanding youth voting rights would incentivize politicians to remain attentive to younger communities' needs.

"Lowering the voting age (to) 16 will mean that the politicians and 'big guys' will start to care about us," Padia said. "They'll think, 'What do we think about? What are we interested in? How can we get their vote?' Basically, they'll start … treating us better."

The group has been working with Jersey City leadership and expects a bill to pass by the end of the year after undergoing two rounds of reading. If passed, it will amend a city ordinance and will likely take effect in 2026, with the time in between its passage being used to create the structures necessary to put it into effect.

The movement also comes at a time when discussions about voting rights expansion are underway across the state. Just this year, the City of Newark and Gov. Phil Murphy (D-N.J.) proposed legislation to allow 16- and 17-year-olds to vote in Board of Education elections — a trend that fits the bill for New Jersey, according to Ali.

"New Jersey actually was the state that led the voting rights being pushed out to 18," he said. "We actually were the state where that movement sort of coalesced to being, 'Oh, the federal voting age should be lower to 18' – so, we are a sort of leader in this industry.'"

The state's constitution is also amenable to local jurisdiction over voting legislation, Ali explained. Unlike in other states, where the Constitution has been amended to state that only citizens above the age of 18 will have their right to vote protected, New Jersey's constitution does not include the word "only."

The support from the Assembly also plays a role in advancing the bill, Yubat and Syed said. 

Yubat explained the endorsement could raise awareness about the bill and tie into the Rutgers community's overarching participation in civic duties. Just this semester, Rutgers—Camden announced it received the Silver Seal from the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge, Rutgers—Newark won the New Jersey Ballot Bowl and Rutgers—New Brunswick created the Rutgers Democracy Lab.

That last point was also echoed by Syed, who explained that the Assembly's endorsement indicates that a school of more than 50 thousand people supports youth civic engagement, contributes to the University's long-standing commitment to civic participation and influences the progression of the Vote16 movement in other areas.

"It was awesome to have such an overwhelming majority (of the Assembly) say yes and want to pass it," she said. "Rutgers is definitely going to be known as one of the pioneers when it comes to this legislation … in terms of supporting it and advocating for the younger generation because this issue is very intergenerational."