By Erin Tiernan — Erin@concordbridge.org
It took Elizabeth Cooke about five minutes to cast her first-ever vote, but it’s a memory she’ll carry with her — literally.
“I guess I’m sort of sentimental,” the Concord-Carlisle High School senior said, describing how she affixed her inaugural “I voted” sticker to her personal journal.
“I was thinking, ‘This was my first election. It’s a big deal. I want to remember that,’” she told The Concord Bridge after casting her ballot.
Cooke was one of 1,073 new Concord voters eligible to participate in their first presidential election this November. But she was one of just a few hundred who opted to do so in person at the polls on Election Day.
“It felt very grown up getting to vote with all the adults,” Cooke said.
Easy and speedy
Cooke cast her ballot at the Hunt Recreation Center on Stow Street. She said she was surprised how easy — and speedy — it was.
She arrived right when polls opened at 7 a.m., and there was virtually no line. (Many of the approximately 12,000 Concordians who voted opted to do so ahead of Election Day via mail-in or early voting.)
Cooke, one of few CCHS students old enough to vote last Tuesday, said sharing political views is strictly off limits in the school hallways and classrooms — but the sense of division over this November’s election was palpable among students, especially on social media.
“I think it’s really important that we all vote, since we live in a democracy,” Cooke said, issuing a warning to students coming of age. “There’s so much misinformation out there. You need to be careful about what sources you’re reading and where you’re getting your information, and being critical and making your own opinions.”
GOTV efforts
Maya Soto, a leader of CCHS’s Girl Up chapter, helped steer the get-out-the-vote effort among Concord youth.
Soto, a high school junior who was still too young to vote, encouraged her peers to challenge their ideas about what political participation looks like.
“There’s so many things that I don’t think people realize we can do since we are still too young to vote, but we can be in policymaking spaces,” Soto said. “We can reach out to our representatives, raise money for organizations that go to causes that matter to us, or [volunteer] in places that align with your beliefs.”
Girl Up ran four CCHS voter registration drives throughout October, connecting students of all ages with resources on how to vote and educate themselves on the issues.
