![](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/takomatorch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/screen_shot_2017_07_13_at_13873902610664729754.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
TAKOMA PARK, MD – Newly energized by the national political environment, a record number of candidates have registered to run for office in next year\u2019s local elections. Seeking to stand out in a crowded field, candidates are turning their attention to one of the city\u2019s most untapped electoral resources: high school juniors and seniors.<\/p>\n
In 2013, Takoma Park made headlines when reducing the voting age for local elections to 16. Lacking any established voting history, these first time voters are seen as largely up for grabs, and candidates are wasting no time making themselves as attractive as possible to Generation Z.<\/p>\n
New teenager-friendly policy proposals are being rolled out on a daily basis, including unrestricted vaping on all city property, replacing the recreation department\u2019s annual basketball tournament with a Fortnite competition, and live-streaming city council meetings on Twitch.<\/p>\n
Beyond policy proposals, a number of candidates are focusing on youth-friendly campaigning strategies. Ward 1 council candidate Peter Franks, for example, posted TikTok videos of himself flossing, while singing along to music stars such as Selena Gomez and Lil Nas X.<\/p>\n
\u201cI rewrote the lyrics to Old Town Road to focus on traffic problems in Old Town Takoma,\u201d said Franks. \u201cI think my version slaps!\u2026.did I use that term correctly?\u201d<\/p>\n
Ward 4 candidate Eileen Teller is also making a major push into social media, courting the attention of YouTube and Instagram influencers to bring extra cachet to her candidacy. Campaign finance forms indicate that Teller paid nearly $3,000 to a YouTube makeup tutorial channel to push a new eyeliner technique called The Smoky Eileen for City Council.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe got some real traction from the YouTube strategy,\u201d Teller said. \u201cNow we\u2019re focused on getting Kendall Jenner to like one of our Instagram stories. Fingers crossed!\u201d<\/p>\n
Recognizing the increased interest in young voters, last week the city sponsored a Youth Voter Forum where residents age 16-18 were allowed to ask questions of specific candidates in a town hall setting. Every currently declared candidate participated in the forum, though with varying levels of success.<\/p>\n
Mayoral candidate Adrienne Simons earned plaudits from the audience for her proposal to classify lawn mowing and snow shoveling as illegal child labor, but Ward 6 council candidate Chad Ponder sharply divided the crowd after taking sides in the ongoing feud between Cardi B and Nicki Minaj (for the record, he chose Minaj).<\/p>\n
\u201cI hired a youth outreach coordinator specifically to help me prepare for this event,\u201d Ponder said. \u201cUnfortunately, she was grounded this week for getting a speeding ticket, so I had to wing it and paid the price.\u201d<\/p>\n
Simons also emphasized the importance of a competent youth voter liaison team. \u201cI very nearly described my tax proposals as being \u2018on fleek.\u2019 Thank goodness Brayden, Madisyn and Kayleigh were around to set me straight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kiana Reynolds, president of the Young Voters Club at Montgomery Blair High School, appreciates the efforts candidates are making to speak to Takoma Park\u2019s teenagers, but wishes those conversations had more substance.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re young, but we\u2019re not idiots,\u201d she said. \u201cWe understand and are very interested in important issues like environmental protections and expanding access to affordable housing. We\u2019re really not that different from older voters.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked to elaborate further on her thoughts via an extended phone interview, Reynolds declined stating \u201cno one makes phone calls anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TAKOMA PARK, MD – Newly energized by the national political environment, a record number of candidates have registered to run for office in next year\u2019s local elections. Seeking to stand out in a crowded field, candidates are turning their attention to one of the city\u2019s most untapped electoral resources: high school juniors and seniors. In…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":280,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[24,140,141,94,98,93,111,4,220,228,67,145,169,171,2,64,229,147,226,121,170,146,230,104,221,164,153],"class_list":["post-279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-dc-satire","tag-fake-news","tag-humor","tag-parody","tag-political-satire","tag-satire","tag-satirical-news","tag-takoma","tag-takoma-dog-park","tag-takoma-election","tag-takoma-junction","tag-takoma-junction-development","tag-takoma-library","tag-takoma-library-expansion","tag-takoma-park","tag-takoma-park-city-council","tag-takoma-park-city-election","tag-takoma-park-election","tag-takoma-park-elections","tag-takoma-park-historic-district","tag-takoma-park-library","tag-takoma-park-mayor","tag-takoma-park-voting","tag-takoma-torch","tag-takoma-tree-ordinance","tag-takomatorch","tag-tkpk","wpcat-17-id"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/takomatorch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/screen_shot_2017_07_13_at_13873902610664729754.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paPZSG-4v","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/takomatorch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/takomatorch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/takomatorch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/takomatorch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/takomatorch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/takomatorch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1364,"href":"https:\/\/takomatorch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279\/revisions\/1364"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/takomatorch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/takomatorch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/takomatorch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/takomatorch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}