Daily Herald opinion: ‘Democracy in action’: Training teens as election judges — and encouraging them to vote — is a vital mission

Historically, the youngest of those eligible to vote in the U.S. — those in their late teens and early 20s — are far less likely to cast ballots than their parents or grandparents. Still, the statistics quoted by reporter Chris Placek for a recent story on a Cook County pilot program were particularly disappointing.

In suburban Cook, less than 4% of those 18 to 22 vote in presidential elections. It’s just 2% in midterm elections. Municipal elections? Less than 1%.

That’s why a program to increase civic participation among youth, led by Cook County Clerk Monica Gordon in partnership with school districts and the Chicago Bears, is so important.

As Placek reported, Gordon and her staff came to John Hersey High School in Arlington Heights Tuesday to train the first group of high school seniors participating in the “Defenders of DA’mocracy” pilot program. They will serve — and be paid — as official election judges during a special on-campus early voting day next month.

Across Cook County, about 150 students will serve as election judges.

“What you’re taking part in today is not a simulation,” Gordon said to about 40 students from Northwest Suburban High School District 214 and Barrington Area Unit District 220. “It’s not a class exercise, and it’s not something that’s happening in any other school around the country. This is democracy in action.”

The 24 schools participating in “Defenders of DA’mocracy” will serve as early-voting polling places for students, faculty and staff on Feb. 26 for the March 17 primary election.

Americans are first allowed to vote at 18, though 17-year-olds in Illinois who will be 18 by the Nov. 3 election are eligible to vote in the primary. If they have not already registered to vote, they can do so on Feb. 26 with two forms of identification.

Gordon’s program is a wonderful way to involve teens in the election process and engage them in a key component of our democracy. Plus, voting at school should make it easier for staff and students to cast ballots.

But the effort should not stop there.

It’s vital that American youth embrace voting early on, establishing a lifelong pattern. Their votes, after all, will help shape the future they face in the years after graduation and beyond.

Too many people sit out elections, whining that their vote doesn’t matter or that none of the candidates reflect their views. That kind of apathy hurts us all.

The stakes for the 2026 midterms could not be higher. Engaged, informed voters of all ages need to take note. And they need to take action.

Parents of teens should be emphasizing how government decisions made now will affect their education, career prospects, health care and so much more. They should urge their teens to think hard about the future of their state, their nation and their planet — and to vote to preserve what they love and change what they don’t.

Voting is the first step toward protecting their future. Like Gordon, we must work to make them understand that.