regiStir the Pot
Image courtesy of The Boston Globe
By ASTON CHAN ‘22“
Registering to vote is one of the most important stepping stones to civil engagement. We know that voter turnout is at some of its lower rates, that our country is becoming more polarized, and that young people especially feel disenfranchised. I wanted to do [a voter registration initiative] that would raise awareness and get people to sign up to vote,” Mr. Heath, a Government elective teacher, remarks.
A few months prior, Mr. Heath organized a morning assembly voter registration drive directed towards seniors; it ended with mixed success. Recently, the Forward-Looking Liberal Action Group (FLLAG), along with Mr. Heath, set up a voter registration table providing all qualified students with the opportunity to register to vote in the Massachusetts primary election. Registration required only a picture of your license and two minutes of your time. The initiative, which lasted all day throughout Monday, February 10th, and Tuesday, February 11th, got over eighty people registered. Since Massachusetts state law permits citizens to preregister starting at sixteen-years-old, to FLLAG, the initiative was a success.
Garrett Doherty ’21 comments that “it’s important that more people [register to] vote because [many] people who don’t vote end up being upset with the choice for president and any elected position. They don’t have a right to be upset if they didn’t vote when they could have.”
Rufus Taylor ’20 concurs: “I think the initiative is great. I think, in general, the voter rate in America is far too low, and any steps that are taken to facilitate people to vote are good. I think FLLAG’s making voting more accessible is a great movement overall, and the more that can be done, the better.” Beyond assisting people to easily register, FLLAG, through this initiative, hoped to promote discussions around politics in Milton. Given how “many people didn’t even know there was a deadline to register” for the primary elections, Sam Bevins’ 21, co-head of FLLAG, asserts the necessity of FLLAG “to educate the student body on current political and social events,” whether it be through preparing presentations, bringing in speakers, or spearheading initiatives such as this voter registration table.
While acknowledging how “the political engagement at Milton is better than other high schools,” Sam admits that the administration “could be doing more,” given that only “some of the Social Awareness classes or Values classes [shallowly] focus on civics.” To Sam, though, the burden of improving political engagement lies not just on the administration—“clubs, too, play
a huge role in political engagement.” Although many clubs, including the Conservative Club,
Sustainability Board, and Lorax, do spark political discussions, Sam notes that “there’s still more
room for discussion.”
Mr. Heath notices that students “are sending emails and having meetings about important topics to discuss and that there’s [much] energy on campus [directed towards] politics.” What he worries about, however, “is whether the same people are going to Conservative Club and whether the same people are going to FLLAG” and “whether we are operating like the real world by having echo chambers.”
Some other challenges Mr. Heath mentions in regards to student political engagement at Milton is how “you all as high schoolers are still figuring [ourselves] out.” With “so much you don’t know about yourselves and so much you don’t know about the world,” it’s difficult to “have an opinion about something because [we] just don’t know, and that’s fine.” Another important aspect is the timing of conversations around politics. As Milton students, “you all are simply [so] busy that it’s hard to facilitate political conversations,” Mr. Heath states.
Regardless of the concerns about political engagement on campus, FLLAG remains “proud that [they] got eighty voters to register” and “[hopes] that [they] can get even more registrations during the November election while keeping the election process navigable for the student body.”