‘Make my voice heard’: First-time teen voters prepare to cast their ballots

Avery Snarey doesn’t feel older generations understand how much young people struggle with affordability. A senior at Merrimack Valley High School, she has witnessed her peers cope with college scholarships and aid falling through, she said.

“Then they realize, ‘Oh, maybe I can’t go to the school, because the money’s not there,'” Snarey said.

As she heads to the polls on Tuesday, Snarey said creating a better system of accountability is front of mind for her.

“Everyone’s kind of working for each other and not really thinking about what the everyday person needs,” Snarey said.

Snarey is part of a cohort of 18-year-old voters who will exercise their civic rights for the first time in the 2026 midterm election.

While each teen who spoke with the Monitor held different priorities as they decided who to support, they all stressed the importance of young people advocating for what they believe in and voiced a disconnect between their experiences and those of older generations.

Madison Duffy, a senior at Concord High School, said she prioritizes national security, keeping an eye on fraud and lowering spending.

“Taxes are important to lower because we spend a huge amount of our paycheck going towards things that are important, but I think that if we can lower part of it,” Duffy said. “[For] some things, it’s better if we spend that money on our own instead of everybody pulling in more money.”

Growing interest in politics

Benji Sullivan, a senior at Concord High School, recalls writing about the 2016 election in his diary when he was eight years old. He said his grandmother’s passion for politics rubbed off on him growing up, and now, he is excited to get out to the polls himself.

“I can remember being involved from a really young age, not necessarily knowing everything that came with [politics], but definitely caring about issues,” Sullivan said. “My grandmother valued morals a lot growing up — not always political, but it can be.”

These morals included to “treat everybody with kindness and equality,” said Sullivan. “Always open-mindedness is what I was taught.”

Since then, Sullivan’s personal experiences have shaped his concept of politics, from his identity as part of the queer community and growing up surrounded by women to his family going through financial hardship. He said he now cares most about social issues, including women’s health care and access to education.

“Equality with everything — making sure that everybody can get paid at the end of the day, get dinner on their table, make sure everybody’s treated the same way and thought about the same way,” Sullivan said.

He feels young people in general approach elections with a lot more open-mindedness because they are exposed to more diversity in people and perspectives. 

“So many people around you have different points of view,” Sullivan said. “So if you allow yourself to be educated from other people’s experiences, how they feel, I feel like that’s a big part.”

Duffy is also excited to vote. She and a group of other Concord High School students registered to vote in October at the Concord City Clerk’s office, with their teacher Becky Tancrede.

“We were looking at our turnout in civics class, and the turnout for voting is really low,” Duffy said. “I think that if we have more people turn out, even if we have different political views, we’ll get more of what us as a society wants, even if it’s not exactly what I want.”

Duffy started paying more attention to politics during the 2024 presidential election. More recently, she became interested in local politics.

“I don’t want to just vote for who my party is,” Duffy said. “I was making a list of looking at what they support and if it’s important to me, whether it’s a pro or a con, and seeing which ones best align with my views.”

Generational disconnect

The stereotypes Snarey said she hears — that young people don’t want to work and that they’re lazy — don’t reflect her reality. Rather, she thinks the economy and society have changed so much that it’s not easy for people her age to reach the same opportunities.

“I feel like people think that young people have it so easy,” Snarey said. “But in reality, it’s much harder for us to build a foundation to grow.”

Understanding the issues that impact her generation translates to how she views candidates. Seeing her peers wrestle with affording college makes adequate education funding a priority for her. In the same vein, experiencing high prices for basic needs like gas puts affordability at the top of her concerns.

For teens launching into adulthood, politics as a whole can be discouraging with frequent negative news and headlines. But it’s still important for young people especially to make their voices heard, Snarey said.

“It’s just all about doing what you can to try and see some change, even if it’s nothing crazy,” she said.

Snarey registered to vote at Merrimack Valley High School’s registration drive last week. The drive was spearheaded by junior Maxine Cornista, with help from the high school’s Key Club.

Cornista felt that a student-led voter drive would be the most effective way to disseminate election information.

“It seems more relatable to the audience,” Cornista said. “It kind of spreads better, instead of the adults. Because a lot of adults say most of the same things over and over again, and it starts to come in one ear and out of the other for many people.”

Although Cornista is not yet eligible to vote, she said she does her best to keep up with the election. Like Snarey, Cornista thinks that older folks hold misconceptions about her generation — one of the most prominent being that young people don’t care.

“There’s just a wide spectrum of different kinds of people,” she said. “There’s definitely a giant group of people who are in the middle, who have opinions and strong opinions about one side or the other, but they don’t have the time or they are caught up with a lot of problems at home.”

In general, she feels people have gotten so tired from work and day-to-day living that they have lost some interest in being civically engaged. Especially for those her age, she said there’s been an increased need to prove themselves because of artificial intelligence. This higher workload, paired with the rising prices of inflation, weighs on her peers.

“It’s just a lot to occupy high schoolers’ minds,” Cornista said. “I feel like kids are growing up really fast and don’t really have that time to breathe.”

‘Your privilege to vote’

At the end of the day, Cornista said it’s important for people to stay positive and for young people to do their part by voting.

Her voter drive led to three registrations and lots of questions from students who were not yet eligible but remained curious about how to register and which documents are required. Although three sounds like a small number, she said the effort was worth it and that she hopes her drive laid the foundation for another in 2028. She wants it to turn into a tradition.

“I would really like that to be a part of our school where we care about civic participation,” Cornista said. “And additionally, I think just getting people more involved with each other really helps. And bringing in the town, showing the towns that there are people who care and we are listening.”

Cornista was inspired to organize a registration drive after participating in a voter registration program with Open Democracy earlier this fall. She learned a statistic that stuck with her: As of March 31, just 7% of 18-year-olds were registered to vote across New Hampshire, the lowest of the 32 states tracked by the Civics Center.

“It really sticks to you once you hear it,” Cornista said.

New Hampshire differs from neighboring states in that voters are not able to register at the Division of Motor Vehicles. Instead, they have to see an election official in person during business hours. Earlier this year, New Hampshire also adopted a law that prohibits students from using student IDs to verify identification.

For Snarey, having the voter drive was a really great option because she didn’t know too much about the registration process beforehand. Leading up to the election, Snarey said she feels a lot of hope.

“There’s still a lot of great candidates out there, so I think to get to cast my vote and get to make my voice heard is very exciting,” Snarey said.

Sullivan, for his part, has learned a lot about how government works and the voting process through civics class, with lessons including topics such as filibusters and gerrymandering.

“It’s cool to be in a class where we can talk openly about stuff like that,” Sullivan said. “I enjoy that I can just speak what’s on my mind and learn that it’s not a subject that needs to be pushed away.”

He urged young people to think about all the people around them and take into consideration how policies could affect those people, whether it’s their mothers, sisters or teachers.

“Use your privilege,” Sullivan said. “It’s your privilege to vote. And you should care because it affects everyone around you.”