Well, leaders in Newark are trying to spread the word about a new voting right that goes into effect this spring, allowing high school students ages 16 and 17 to cast a ballot in April school board elections.

The city became the first in New Jersey to lower the voting age last year.

And now officials there want to make sure teen agers participate.

Ted Goldberg was at a vote 16 town hall this weekend where the school administration was helping to get students registered and urging them to turn out.

I feel like it's really important as students that we have our voice heard.

16 and 17 year olds voting will become a reality in Newark.

This April when students cast ballots and school board elections.

The issues driving them to vote run the gamut.

Are recreational facilities and infrastructure.

Our age fact systems.

How often worked inversely with the weather.

My main focus was the offerings in different schools.

So some schools that have more reserves is said to have more ease than other schools that are getting access to those courses and having control over the curriculum.

That should be something that we wish to take away.

This is the importance of going out to vote.

We want to be able to make these changes as students.

Newark residents, age 16 and older who are U.S. citizens can vote.

And voter registration started this past Saturday.

Voting advocates have applauded the Newark ordinance allowing this, which was passed in January of 2024.

This is a major victory for our democracy, for youth participation, and really for the future of our communities.

Studies show that when you get people involved earlier, they're more likely to stay in.

And knowing that we're starting at 16, we're starting now when people are just having their, say, six years and getting their driver's license.

Our freedom of speech is being attacked on a daily basis.

And in order to save that right, in order to save that culture of democracy that we hold so dear to this nation, in this Western society, it is imperative that we empower the next generation to hold it to a certain standard and to try just to try to pick up the ball that generation before us and drop.

Bethany Baptist Church hosted this town hall over the weekend encouraging students to actively participate in democracy.

We have to not just vote.

We have to use our voices to show up to the board meetings, to show up to the congressional hearings.

We have to tune in to them online.

We know that voting is one of the easiest and most sacred ways to make our voices heard.

You cannot forget the historical landscape of the struggle and sacrifice that our folks have fought for, our grandmothers and great grandmothers, those who had to fight to count how many jellybeans were in a jar to be able to try to figure out the right to vote.

Newark Superintendent Roger Leone says the district's classes will change a bit to get ready for the upcoming election.

We're going to change all of the curriculum offerings starting in the middle.

We're going to teach 6/7 and eighth graders that there's a new law in Newark that changes their reality so that by the time they're 15 plus, they actually register.

If they are old enough to work and pay taxes.

And they should be able to have a say in the state of their education.

La monica McIver was sworn in as Newark's congresswoman this past September, but she was the city council president when the ordinance passed last year.

She says Newark will serve as a model for helping 16 year olds vote in school board elections nationwide.

Trust me, when I walk in the halls, the Congress folks are asking me, Hey, you guys got to vote.

16 and 17 year olds in the city in Newark.

I'm on.

You sure do.

Let me tell you how we did it.

But you can do it in your state, in your city.

Understand that the states around New Jersey are looking at New Jersey to see if they want to get on board.

Right.

So we want to make sure that this goes smoothly and this goes in a way where we're standing united.

The ordinance does not allow minors to vote for other offices like governor, but when they turn 18, they'll be automatically registered.

Now that young people can vote, will they?

Let's be careful.

And let's be mindful.

That when the school board election is held and they vote, we don't just go by a different standard.

If they don't show up at 70% because we do, we show up at 3%.

Newark's voter turnout for school board elections was actually lower than that in 2024.

A scant 2.8% of registered voters cast a ballot.

We'll see if 16 and 17 year olds follow that trend or if they exercise their new right to vote.

Then Newark.

I'm Ted Goldberg.

NJ Spotlight News.