By Magaly Muñoz

After five years of campaigning and fighting to be heard, Oakland teens have finally crossed the finish line and began casting their ballots for city school board director elections outside of Alameda County Courthouse this week.

In 2019, after a series of school closures throughout the district, many students felt as if their voices were not being heard or considered when the school board made decisions that would have lasting impacts on their education . This prompted the championing of allowing 16 and 17 year old students the right to vote for school board directors.

Natalie Gallegos Chavez, a second-year UC Berkeley student, was part of the early campaigning for youth vote and said she’s proud of the efforts of students to make this moment happen.

“I’m just so happy that our young people never stopped actually fighting for this change because it was so hard to actually get it implemented,” Chavez said.

The measure that allowed youth voting, Measure QQ, was passed in 2020, but got stuck for four years at the county level while the Alameda Registrar of Voters figured out a plan to implement the right voting software that recognized teen voters.

Oakland now becomes the largest city in the nation to allow teen voting. Students in Berkeley will also get the chance to vote in school elections, having passed their own measure eight years ago.

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Students have often shared their frustration during campaigning for this voting ability, stating that adults did not take them seriously and didn’t believe that they were educated enough to understand the political process of voting.

Chavez told the Post that many students that they spoke to were already dealing with adult-level problems, such as translating important documents for parents or helping family members fill out election ballots. This meant that several students were already educated on the importance of voting and would take this new chance seriously.

Students who filled out their ballot early were escorted to the ballot drop off box outside of the courthouse while their fellow students cheered them on.

Alexis Garcia, a Fremont High School student voting for District 7, said he was thrilled to finally reach this moment of casting his vote after spending so much time educating others on the issue. He added that this movement helps prepare students for voting on a larger scale, like state and national elections, once they graduate high school.

“It’s absolutely exciting. I feel like my voice matters,” Garcia said.

Several students have shared that now that they get the opportunity to vote, they hope the board will think twice before taking action on important topics without seeking their input.

Maximus Simmons, one of two student directors on the Oakland Unified board, gave an impassioned speech about the need to have student voices heard, especially when those decisions impact them.

“Now I’ve heard many times that our generation is soft, weak, and pampered, and in reality, we are resilient, open minded, brave, but better than all of those, we aren’t scared to speak our truth,” he said.

Simmons shared that he once thought youth voting was unattainable and something you could only dream of, “because our system is built off the ideas of old white men, refusing to look through our perspectives.”

This step is the biggest students have taken since the initial movement in 2019, but they are assuring folks that they are not done fighting until all their rights and demands are heard and completed.

“How does it feel to be a part of history?” Simmons chanted.

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