By Erin Tiernan — Erin@concordbridge.org
Concord-Carlisle High School senior Elizabeth Cooke is “excited” about a future where she will have a say.
“I think often, as high schoolers, you can think you don’t have a lot of say over politics or the world or the country you live in,” Cooke said. “Now, being able to vote, I think that can empower you. It can make you feel like you do have a voice and you do get a say in what you think will make things better.”
On November 5, Cooke casts her 2024 ballot in her first presidential election since turning 18. She’ll be one of 1,073 new Concord voters with the opportunity to do so.
Unlike many of her peers, she’s planning to show up to vote in person.
‘Sign of the times’
Roughly half (549) of these newly registered voters are likely to appear at the polls in person on Election Day. Concord Town Clerk Kaari Tari said that the rest of the first-timers have already requested mail-in ballots.
“It’s a sign of the times,” Tari said.
Concord has seen a dramatic shift toward early and mail-in voting — a trend born from remote provisions forged from a pandemic necessity that continued even after in-person traditions resumed. In 2020, about 8,000 people voted by mail in Concord and 3,146 voted early in person.
Already, 6,109 Concord voters have requested mail-in ballots for the upcoming election — about 43 percent of the town’s 14,263 registered voters.
The deadline to request a mail-in ballot is 5 p.m. on Tuesday, October 29. Early voting starts Saturday, October 19, and runs through Friday, November 1.
The true impact of the shift in how voters cast their ballots in Concord is still under review. Tari said this November’s election — the first presidential vote since the pandemic shutdowns — will yield clues.
Tari said it’s hard to compare the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections because of pandemic-era changes to early and mail-in voting that give greater flexibility to cast ballots before Election Day.
“Voters have many options, and time is always limited, so voting at home seems to be the most convenient option,” she said. “I’d expect a higher Election Day turnout at the polls this year than in 2020, when showing up was such a health risk. I’m very interested in seeing the overall turnout.”
More options for voters
Nancy Confrey of The League of Women Voters of Concord-Carlisle said the non-partisan voter rights organization is “all for any and all ways” to get the vote out.
“We believe that the process is very secure and very diligently adhered to, and we are very enthusiastic about new ways to vote, and the fact that we get to do this [because] Covid motivated new ways of voting,” Confrey said.
Cooke said she’s glad to have many options, but as a first-time voter, she said the ritual of going to the polls on Election Day is a rite of passage she doesn’t want to miss.
“I remember going with my mom when she would vote; now it’s my turn,” she said. “I’m really excited to see what it’s like to vote and also to have a voice in choosing the next president.”
Only about a quarter of CCHS seniors will be old enough to cast a vote in this year’s election, but that hasn’t stopped many local teens from getting involved.
The Girl Up chapter at CCHS has partnered with the League to energize and educate the local youth vote. Girl Up is an international leadership initiative focusing on equity for girls and women, particularly in spaces where they are underrepresented.
Energizing the youth vote
Girl Up chapter leaders Alex Hooven, April Tang, Layli White, and Maya Soto are leading CCHS’s get-out-the-vote effort. At 16 and 17, they won’t be old enough to vote in the 2024 election, but they said it’s never too early to start learning about politics and the issues confronting voters.
Courtesy photo
“Youth are seen as people who don’t really know what’s going on and make mistakes and are rebellious and all this negative stuff, but I feel like looking around at all my friends and all the people I know that we are just a really incredible group of people, and I’m really excited about what our opinions and our roles can do,” Layli said.
“I know so many leaders just in the high school alone, and I’m so excited to see how our vote will really make a difference,” she said. “I’m very optimistic about the future.”
Girl Up will host voter registration signups at CCHS every Friday in October. There, they will distribute voter education resources and pre-register students 16 and older.
The deadline to register to vote in the upcoming presidential election, which also features five statewide ballot questions and a contest in the state’s 13th Middlesex House district, is 5 p.m. on Saturday, October 26.
