OAKLAND — Diamond Griggs is one of hundreds of Oakland 16- and 17-year-olds who, for the first time ever, will be able to cast a vote in their local school board election.
“It means a lot. I’ve never gotten to vote before because I’ve always seen, like, people talking about presidential reasons and stuff but voting for school board is more important to me,” Griggs said.
Measure QQ, which passed in Oakland in 2020, lowered the voting age for local school board elections to 16.
To try and mobilize that youth vote, the organization Families in Action hosted a candidate forum where youth could get to know the candidates and ask them questions face-to-face.
“We think this is critically important because students actually are the ones who are most impacted by the quality of our schools. So we need to be hearing from their priorities and now they’re going to be able to make themselves heard through their vote,” said Kimi Kean, co-founder and CEO of Families in Action.