Ky high school students can’t vote, but we can and should learn more from candidates

Over the past few years, young people have been instrumental in many social movements, dubbing Generation Z as “Generation Action.” But how can Generation Action live up to its name in Kentucky’s upcoming midterm elections?

The answer is simple: vote. Yet, the voter participation rate amongst the state’s youngest population is at about 50 percent for general elections and 20 percent for primary elections. The question that remains is how can we, as Kentuckians, prevent low voter turnout among young voters in future elections. We believe that Kentucky high schools should host debates between candidates, with town halls and the like, for students and provide a time for audience questions.

The Brookings Institute cites that Senate candidate debates are on the decline. Not only are these debates dying, even the ones that happen are inaccessible for dissenters, including many of the young voter demographic, as politicians surround themselves in “campaign bubbles” of loyal supporters.

If public servants and politicians truly seek to engage their youngest constituencies, won’t having these candidate debates in public high schools be the best place to start? At least for us authors, it is a lot easier to pay attention in a live debate than in class.

Studies have argued the pitfalls of traditional civic education. In fact, some have argued against our current form of civic education. James Bernard Murphy, a professor of government at Dartmouth College argues that “[c]ivic education aimed at civic virtue is at best ineffective; worse, it is often subversive of the moral purpose of schooling.” Maybe true, but politicians who come to students, face-to-face with their proposals in hand, would engage students fully.

As Josh Douglas, a professor at the University of Kentucky Rosenberg College of Law and voting rights expert, told us, “young people are the lifeblood of our democracy. We need to engage them fully in democratic participation.” Debates between live candidates seems to be one of the fullest forms of democratic participation.

One of us, Zachary Clifton, is a Corbin High School student. My message to public servants and politicians couldn’t be clearer–to earn my generation’s vote is to engage with voters my age and to sympathize with the issues that matter to us. Rather than working to engage with young voters, I believe our society has forgotten them or chosen to cast them out.

And the second of us, Dustyn Sams, is a University of Kentucky law student. I now understand how crucial my early exposure to civic engagement, outside of the classroom, was to my development as a young voter. Candidate debates within Kentucky schools could only benefit voter turnout. This could also create incentives for candidates to engage with students, because such students comprise present and future voter-constituencies.

To not discount young voters, Generation Action is voting at a higher rate than past generations did at this age. In fact, youth participation in midterm elections has increased for over 50 years. Yet, this should not deter progress towards 100 percent young voter turnout. Many initiatives are headed in the right direction, like the Kentucky Student Voice Team who will host debates for school board candidates in Fayette and Jefferson County this year.

Young voters, Republicans and Democrats alike, have the potential to shape the Commonwealth’s political landscape. For example, on June 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, sending decisions on abortion back to the state. On Nov. 8, voters in the Commonwealth will decide whether abortion will explicitly outlawed in Kentucky’s constitution. But it is statistically likely that young people will probably play a small role in this vote.

Our elected officials should discuss Kentucky’s preeminent issues along with young voters. In turn, young people will play a larger role than before in addressing some of the greatest issues that our society faces.

Zachary Clifton is a member of the Kentucky Student Voice Team and a board member of the Kentucky YMCA Youth Association. Dustyn Sams is a third year law student at the University of Kentucky J. David Rosenberg College of Law who will graduate this May.