Elections are a unique opportunity to hold policymakers accountable to youth by ensuring voters choose leaders who prioritize children’s needs. Because most children can’t vote, it is all the more important that adults vote for leaders who understand and prioritize their needs.
Check out our handy guide to make sure kids are top of mind in the 2024 election. And check out these Top 10 Ideas, by child advocate Margaret Brodkin, for actionable ways to prioritize kids this election season.
Once elected, we—along with youth—ought to hold those leaders accountable to make decisions that enable young people to reach their full potential as adults.
The Youth Vote
Educating Candidates on Youth Accountability
Ballot Measures to Hold Policymakers Accountable for Youth
Political Activities
Legislator/Legislation Scorecards
The Youth Vote
When youth exercise their right to vote, they make their voices heard and help elect leaders who pay attention to their needs and circumstances. Voting is essential for youth to impact issues that affect them and their communities.
- Election 2024: Vote Kids, from the American Academy of Pediatrics, provides resources and tools for young voters and their parents.
- Rock the Vote helps young people register to vote and get to the polls.
- UNICEF’s Action Center provides voter registration information and information about candidates.
- Civic Influencers is a national organization “whose mission is to increase youth civic power and youth voting, giving emphasis to Black, Indigenous and Youth of Color.”
- The Andrew Goodman Foundation encourages young people to become active, engaged citizens and offers voter and civic engagement resources.
- Youth Voting Rights includes other youth voting resources.
Educating Candidates on Youth Accountability
To ensure leaders who understand and address the issues that impact children and youth are elected, it is critical to 1) educate candidates and voters on these issues, 2) find out where candidates stand on the issues, and 3) hold candidates accountable to the priorities of your community’s children and youth.
The following resources aim to educate candidates and voters about children’s issues.
Election Guides
- Think Babies Voter Guides
- Care Voter Guide, Care Can’t Wait Coalition
- 2024 Voters’ Guide, Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families
- Considerations for Voters in the 2024 Election, Children’s Environmental Health Network
Candidates’ Forums
- Michigan’s Children 2024 Candidates Forums
- New Hampshire Gubernatorial Forum on the Well-Being of Kids
Messaging and Polling to Inform Voter and Candidate Education
- New research from the Frameworks Institute and Leading for Kids on how to talk about kids’ needs
- Santa Clara County Voter Attitudes Toward Early Childhood Policies, Choose Children in California
- 2024 Elections Polling Results, Save the Children Action Network
- Are We on Mute? Youth Speak Out in New UNICEF USA/Harris Survey and webinar describing the results and featuring the reactions from two young people
Candidates’ Agendas for Kids
-
Examples of items to include in a candidate’s children’s agenda from First Focus Campaign for Children
-
Moms’ Seal of Approval on Child Care, MomsRising Together
- Vote Kids 2024, a website for child, family, and care advocates
Ballot Measures to Hold Policymakers Accountable for Youth
Ballot measures are another way that voters can influence government officials to prioritize young people. A number of states and localities have used elections to generate needed new resources for children and youth.
- Map of communities that have passed ballot measures to generate revenues for kids
- Guide on how to undertake a campaign to generate new revenues for children and youth
Political Activities
People who care about children can help in several ways to elect child-friendly candidates so long as they do so as an individual, on their own time, and not through any nonprofit organization. They can volunteer in candidates’ campaigns, endorse candidates, and make financial contributions. These political contributions are not tax-deductible.
Leaders for children have begun working together to identify candidates who are champions for children and provide financial support through PACs or 501(c)(4) efforts. You may want to join these efforts.
- Their Future PAC is supporting a candidate for president as well as 9 congressional candidates who have a child-friendly record.
- NextGenPac is supporting candidates who care about kids in seven states and nationally.
Legislator/Legislative Scorecards
Once elected officials are in office, youth and other communities can make sure these leaders prioritize children and youth. The following resources are examples of tools to help keep policymakers accountable to kids.
- First Focus Legislative Scorecard tallies up actions that members of the 118th Congress took related to making children a top priority.
- Bill Tracker, from First Focus Campaign for Children, rates current bills and votes in Congress according to whether they help or hurt kids.
- Legislative Report Card, from Children’s Defense Fund Action Council, reviews lawmakers’ actions for children.
If you are involved in other election activities to elevate children as a priority, please let us know at info@kidsimpact.org. We’d like to share what you are doing.