Livingston Op-Ed: Lower Local Voting Age To 16, Student Says

LIVINGSTON, NJ — The following op-ed comes courtesy of Myra Dhawan. Find out how to post announcements or events to your local Patch site.

From a young age, Livingston's youth are encouraged to be civically engaged. Whether it’s through elementary school lessons, middle school volunteer programs, or poll working in high school, meaningful civic participation has been embedded into our lives. Yet we remain barred from the one form of engagement that gives our voice a direct impact: voting.

That changes now.

The Civic Creation Circle (CCC), a 40-member nonpartisan club at Livingston High School, is working to lower the voting age to 16 in Livingston's local elections.

Our youth are already doing the work of democracy – and we deserve a vote that reflects it.

As a 16-year-old immigrant student, I've felt that my generation's voice is missing from the rooms where decisions are made. I've watched policy reshape the lives of families in my community, researched and written about it, and worked with several organizations, legislators and leaders to contribute for the better of the community. Still, I and other young civic leaders in Livingston have lacked a formal space to meaningfully impact policy and make our voices heard.

This is why I founded the CCC: to give youth a dedicated space to research, discuss, and drive change on the issues our generation cares most about. Beyond our core advocacy work, the CCC publishes a schoolwide Civic Current Newsletter, delivering monthly news summaries, student op-eds, and civic resources to over 2,000 students and staff. Throughout the year, we've built a coalition of support with the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, the League of Women Voters, the Vote16 Movement, and Livingston High School’s Student Government Association (SGA).

And now we are working to turn our voices into votes.

Last month the CCC presented research on lowering the voting age in local elections to the Livingston Township Council, with over 30 parents, teachers, students and partner organization leaders standing beside us. The data we gathered at the local level proved that youth are actively engaging in democracy. Working with SGA, the CCC analyzed four years of student election data, and the results were striking. Livingston Juniors, the majority of whom are 16 and 17, reached 80% turnout in 2025 executive board elections. Sophomores held consistently above a 60% turnout in Class Officer Elections from 2023 to 2025.

Now consider this: in the 2023 general election, Essex County recorded just 17% turnout among registered voters, the lowest in New Jersey.

Our youth can fill this gap on the local level.

We informed the Town Council that lowering the voting age for local elections is not only right, but legal and constitutionally viable, as outlined by the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice’s policy brief.

Livingston has a chance to make history with this movement, but wouldn't be the first to make this change. At least 12 municipalities across California, Maryland, Vermont and New Jersey have already made this change, including Newark, which became the first New Jersey city to lower the voting age to 16 for school board elections in 2024.

Beyond our borders, nations including Austria, Argentina, Brazil, Germany, and the United Kingdom have extended voting rights to 16-year-olds for national, regional or local elections.

What the data from those municipalities reveals silences any remaining doubt. In Takoma Park, Maryland, the first U.S. city to lower the voting age, registered 16 and 17-year-olds turned out to vote at twice the rate of 18 to 24-year-olds.

Research from Austria and Estonia demonstrates that people who cast their first ballot at a younger age go on to show higher turnout rates for years afterward, alongside measurable increases in knowledge, interest, and efficacy. In fact, studies show that voting in a single election increases the probability of voting in the next one by 25%.

Livingston has built something special: a generation of young people who are prepared and informed enough to have a voice in decisions that affect us, our families and our town every day.

The data, precedent, and energy stand behind our case. What we need now is a coalition of Livingstonians ready to listen to their youngest neighbors. By signing our petition, you help us show our leaders that this community believes in the promise of its youth.

We’re here, we’re engaged, and we’re ready to be heard.

Learn more about the CCC! Watch our testimony in front of the Town Council, at the 25-minute mark.

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