SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Should high school students be able to vote for their local city council and school board members? Mia Moroz believes so. She's a California high school senior and president of Vote 16 Culver City. The group is behind a measure on the ballot next week that would allow 16- and 17-year-olds in Culver City to vote in local elections. Mia Moroz joins us now from Culver City in Los Angeles County. Thanks so much for being with us.
MIA MOROZ: Thanks so much for having me.
SIMON: Why do you think 16- and 17-year-olds should be able to cast a vote?
MOROZ: Well, that is the million-dollar question. We believe that Measure YV and Vote 16 nationwide addresses the growing lack of engagement that we see not only from the age group of, like, 18 to 25, but overall, for people under 70. And we see, overall, as a result of a lack of engagement and participation, a lack of trust. People so frequently feel as though their voices are going unheard in government, and we see this very predominantly in our Culver City school system. So what Vote 16 does is it engages the youth and prepares them for voting in a way that creates habitual voting habits that we know scientifically will carry them into a life of voting consistently at every level.
SIMON: So student council elections aren't enough for you?
MOROZ: That's a great question. And although student council and local extracurricular elections do provide students with some semblance of what it's like to vote, they're small-scale and the people being elected often hold figurehead positions that don't in any way influence the lives and the policy of these 16- and 17-year-olds.
SIMON: There's some opponents of the measure, as I'm sure you know.
MOROZ: Of course.
SIMON: Including the former mayor, who worries that if - he says 16- and 17-year-olds might abuse this power to, you know, push for extra days off from school or dropping course requirements. How do you answer that?
MOROZ: Honestly, I think it's a bit of a silly concern. I think that there are a lot of - there is opposition to this measure, as there is with anything. But I think that the idea that 16- and 17-year-olds are so much more immature than an 18-year-old, I think the notion in and of itself is a little bit ridiculous.
SIMON: This proposal has been on the ballot before, hasn't it?
MOROZ: Yes. In 2022, yes. We lost by 16 votes out of about 16,000.
SIMON: What do you think might be different?
MOROZ: I think that the need is different. Also the engagement. We see more students than ever participating in the club, more students than ever participating in youth in government and mock trial and all sorts of extracurriculars that prepare them for this - for voting in a direct way.
SIMON: I understand you recently turned 18.
MOROZ: Yes.
SIMON: Do you think you're better prepared to be a voter now than you were two years ago?
MOROZ: So I think that while, yes, I may be slightly more prepared than I was two years ago, what Vote 16 does is bring that line back to 16 so that we start engaging people younger, and we give them a direct and universal way to do so.
SIMON: Mia Moroz, 18 years old, high school senior in Culver City, California. You're going to vote?
MOROZ: Yes, sir. I have voted.
SIMON: Well, thanks very much. Thanks for speaking with us.
MOROZ: Of course. Thanks so much for having me.
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