Motivation requires some emotion. Fear, anger, sadness, joy, envy and love often serve as fuel for human actions.
Right now, millions of young Americans appear motivated to be heard by their elected representatives. Frustrated and fearful about the safety of their schools, many participated in Wednesday’s National School Walkout, conducted one month after a gunman using an assault rifle killed 17 students and staff members inside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School at Parkland, Fla. A teenager is accused of that horrifying act.
Next Saturday, young people intend to take to the streets and public squares in Washington, D.C., and other U.S. cities, including Terre Haute, for the March For Our Lives. The initiative grew from protests by surviving Parkland students and families, calling for comprehensive action by Congress and state legislatures on the availability of assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines used in recent mass shootings, and on closing loopholes on background checks.
Parkland teens who survived the Feb. 14 atrocity are motivated. Their peers around the country seem to share their drive.
It remains questionable, though, whether that motivation will carry young people of voting age into the polling booth in spring primaries and the November midterm election. The March For Our Lives website insists the young people intend to vote, aiming to get public officials attention.
“We will keep up the pressure,” the site states. “Then we will take more action. This fall we will go and vote like no generation has in history. It is only when we show the collective strength of our voices, in the streets and at the voting booth, will they start to listen. We are talking about voting — we are talking about saving lives.”
The League of Women Voters of Indiana see that potential.
“That high school students are taking action and expressing their opinion is most affirming of youth engagement in American social issues,” said Patsy Hoyer, co-president of the Indiana league. “We often work with high schools to register voting-age students and encourage voting. We certainly believe that they ... will, in larger numbers, participate by voting thoughtfully in the upcoming elections.”
Of course, 18- to 29-year-olds traditionally have the lowest voter turnout rates of any U.S. age group. That age group’s turnout hit 46.1 percent in 2016, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, trailing older demographic groups. Still, the 2016 young voter turnout rose from 45 percent in 2012.
Another historical trend hints that the March For Our Lives’ prediction could happen. Though the under-30 crowd votes less often, the youngest of them may buck that penchant. A 2015 study in California showed that 18-year-olds — buoyed by their first opportunity to cast a ballot — out-performed 20- to 25-year-olds, the Washington Post reported.
Those that turn 18 by Nov. 6, the date of the 2018 midterm general election, can vote this year. They must register on or before April 9 to vote in the May 8 primary, and on or before Oct. 9 for the midterm election. Younger students must wait for the 2019 municipal election or the 2020 presidential election. Either way, their present activism can translate into a routine of voting and community engagement throughout their adult lives.
“They’re doing what they can politically now,” said Rachel Einwohner, who studies protests and resistance movements as a professor of sociology at Purdue University. Such an early immersion may prompt them to “carry that on later in life,” she added. “Time will tell. This is an interesting constituency. They’re fired up. [Those in Florida] have been traumatized. ... Sadly, they’ve been inspired by a tragedy.”
Causing change isn’t easy, and isn’t a one-step process. Despite the groundswell of support for stronger school safety measures, Indiana’s General Assembly failed to enact a modest bill that would’ve boosted the Indiana Secured School Fund, eased loans for school safety upgrades and mandated state audits of safety plans at all Hoosier schools.
The Legislature didn’t act, fulfilling the legacy pointed out by the young protesters.
To get lawmakers to address the public threat caused by easy access to weapons of war, young people may have to go deeper into the electoral process. March For Our Lives may draw more 18-year-olds — whose opinions on gun laws vary — into voting. (As of Thursday, the Vigo County voter registration office had received 2,208 new voter registrations by people of all ages since the November 2016 election, with another 126 pending or incomplete.)
A surge of young voters may not be enough to prompt the action sought through the marches and rallies.
“These activities could certainly lead to increased voting in 2018, but voting is just one step, albeit an important one,” said Dionne Danns, an associate professor of educational leadership and policy studies at Indiana University. “This movement would be more successful if organizers eventually ran candidates and not simply choose from candidates that the Democratic and Republican parties provide.”
Last year’s Women's March on Washington and other cities may become a prime example. Already, a record number of women — 494 nationwide, both Republican and Democrat — have declared candidacy for state and federal offices in 2018, according to the Center for American Women and Politics. A young people’s march may need to generate candidates determined to bring about better school safety and who aren’t intimidated by gun industry lobbyists.
Youths involved in rallies after the Parkland shootings don’t seem intimidated. Even after conspiracy theorists attacked the surviving students’ reputations online, those kids continued to speak out. “They understand there are trolls — people who will say mean things about anybody — out there,” Einwohner said. “They’ve grown up with that stuff, and it doesn’t faze them.
“And they’re just marching on,” she added.