Youth organizers and activists at Oakland’s July 16, 2024, City Council meeting, with OUSD Director Sam Davis and Councilmember Treva Reid. Council members cast preliminary votes to authorize youth aged 16 and older to vote in school board elections. (Photo credit: Families in Action for Education (FIA)).
With November just around the corner, Oakland has joined the neighboring City of Berkeley in setting the bar for cities around the country with respect to both education and voting rights. Specifically, City Council voted on whether to allow 16- and 17-year-olds the right to cast their own ballots for the Office of Board Director in Oakland Unified School Board elections.
The origin story of Measure QQ began while schools across the country were gripped by uncertainty in the wake of COVID-19, on the November 3, 2020, ballot. Oakland voters took to the polls passing Measure QQ, amending the City Charter to allow “the City Council, by adoption of an ordinance, to authorize persons aged 16 and above, who are otherwise eligible to vote under state and local law, to vote for the Office of School Board Director.”
The 2020 ordinance granting Council the ability to authorize passed with 131,324 votes (67.88%). Nearly four long years later, at their July 16, 2024, meeting, Oakland City Council convened with a packed agenda to put that authority to work.
Oakland’s Office of the City Clerk, Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas, Councilmember Treva Reid, and Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan joined to co-sponsor the legislation.
As governing bodies do, Council moved several agenda items to its Consent Calendar as a way of moving quickly through those expected to draw more expedient consideration.
Each consent calendar item welcomed members of the public to share remarks and opinions with the Councilmembers, each speaker allotted two minutes. Those wishing to speak on more than one agenda item were to consolidate all their remarks to within three minutes.
The Council Chambers were filled with a diverse representation of Oakland and its vibrant civic community, including a noticeable crowd of young people, many of them wearing red t-shirts that read, “IMPLEMENT OAKLAND YOUTH VOTE NOW.”
Several students, organized and prepared by education advocacy groups like Families in Action (FIA) and Oakland Kids First, approached the microphone to offer public comment. Each student spoke clearly, confidently, and eloquently, with comments thanking City officials for “keeping the torch burning” to move the measure forward.
One student speaking during Public Comment petitioned the Councilmembers to “make [the students] a priority when voting, and to “let [their] voices be heard for better schools.”
Adult advocates came with equal fervor.
Oakland Unified District 1 Director, Sam Davis, who is also the current school board president, an office that would be subject to the students’ vote, noted in his public comment, “By getting youth to vote at 16 and 17, we’re expanding the franchise as Republicans are trying to decrease voting rights.” Davis noted that it is important to encourage civic involvement by “getting kids used to voting,” highlighting that, “kids would already be registered to vote when they go off to college.”
Native Oaklander, Lukas Brekke-Miesner, shared remarks as Executive Director of Oakland Kids First, an Oakland-based organization empowering students with opportunities for personal development, civic engagement, and political education.
Brekke-Miesner began his remarks with a reference to a new Civic Engagement Curriculum being developed for students in Oakland, continuing to say that while Oakland has its issues, that it has also “historically set trends and pushed the needle.”
He noted, “The way Oakland is pushing ahead in this era of voter suppression means that many other cities are watching.” He thanked Councilmembers for “pushing Oakland ahead.”
The spirit of each Youth Vote speaker – student and adult – was one of gratitude for City Council members’ advocacy for the effort by bringing it to vote.
Next Steps
With this City Council hurdle cleared, Oaklandside reports that the next steps to securing a Youth Vote in Oakland include the Alameda County Registrar completing the testing of its voting systems and Oakland City Council passing a resolution specifically authorizing 16- and 17-year-olds to vote in this November’s school board races.
On July 23, 2024, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors took another critical step, confirming approval of an agreement to share the costs of implementation between the City of Oakland, the City of Berkeley, and OUSD.
Great School Voices spoke with School Board President Sam Davis following the Supervisors’ vote to affirm Measure QQ’s place on the November ballot.
“It’s been a long time coming,” said Davis, acknowledging the years since Measure QQ was first introduced. He also noted that “at the County level, there was more concern that the vote would impact more than just Oakland and Berkeley,” saying that he understands why the Registrar would be more hesitant. “It’s been a multi-agency effort to assist the County Registrar to move this forward.”
With the ship moving again, Davis expressed excitement for the future. “With what happened recently [with the Presidential election], we know we’ll have an Oakland native at the top of the ticket, and now we know that we’ll have Youth Voting at the bottom of the ticket. This means history will be made up and down the ticket.”
Davis said that he is proud to have served his term, but is not planning to run for re-election in November.