Bronx Science students expand youth voter engagement through VOTE initiative

Teens at Bronx High School of Science, located at 75 W. 205th St., are encouraging young people to be a part of civic life through Vote of Teens in Elections, or VOTE. The student-led, nonpartisan initiative that started at Bronx Science has since spread to dozens of other high schools.

Seniors Cooper Halpern, Joshua Isaacs and Rachel Tan are the executive directors of VOTE, all driven by an interest in public policy and a determination to take control of their future.

The three organize voter registration and pre-registration drives, reach out to other high schools, meet with elected officials and lead the Bronx Science chapter. They also support 27 other chapters that host their own drives, mostly based in New York, but also in Maryland, Massachusetts and California. Bronx Science students built this network by connecting with friends and other contacts, as well as some high schools reaching out to the Bronx Science team via social media, Tan said.

According to the Bronx Science students, the chapters have collectively gotten 2,500 eligible high school students to register to vote.

Students from several different chapters make up the VOTE editorial team — 10 students who write articles on topics ranging from racial gerrymandering to why high school students should pay attention to the 2026 midterms — as well as a media team of five students.

On Instagram, VOTE posts infographics informing their 1,200 followers. Back in June, it was a slideshow on the city’s congressional candidates and their platforms. A few weeks ago, VOTE shared what youth voter laws were in New York and other East Coast states.

The initiative was founded by two Bronx Science students who have since graduated, Sebastian Merkatz and Oscar Allen, and was handed down to Halpern and Isaacs when the two were sophomores. Tan got involved about a year later after seeing a voter registration drive hosted by VOTE on social media.

“We need to be more in tune with democracy,” Tan said. “Young people need to know that they have a voice, that they can actually influence the future.”

VOTE has progressed since Halpern and Isaacs first took over. Back then, the goal was to make voter registration and pre-registration easy for students, and to reach out to other high schools so they could do it too. But now, it’s grown to a full operation that aims to not only make social change, but legislative change too.

The teens said they are proposing a bill that would integrate voter registration into the New York City Summer Youth Employment Program — a city initiative that connects teens and young adults with paid work and career opportunities — by including a form to register with the program’s other onboarding forms. They have met with the legislative staff of Bronx Council member Althea Stevens, which told The Press the idea is still in its early stages, but Stevens is aware of it.

VOTE also supports lowering the pre-registration age to 16 in all states — in New Jersey and nine others, it is between 17 and 18 years old — a deputy registrar in every high school, lowering the primary voting age to 17 and requiring voting instruction in 12th grade curriculum.

The importance of preregistering to vote is simple, Isaacs said, as it increases the chance an 18-year-old would vote once they are eligible. It takes away the pressure of having to sign up once a teen is an adult and busy with college or a job, he said.

“Preregistering itself is really the first big act of civic engagement that any young person can take,” Isaacs said. “While students are, say, 16 or 17 and still in high school, and still in an environment where they’re able to collaborate with their peers, talk to teachers and learn how to be civically engaged.”

Halpern cited the recent city mayoral election, where young voter turnout was crucial to Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s win. There are external organizations and nonprofits who are working to engage young people in politics, but VOTE is inside the school, making it uniquely positioned to reach students, he said.

This is a polarizing time politically, Halpern said, but circumstances have actually motivated youth involvement. That involvement is also bolstered by younger people starting to be elected into office, he said.

“We believe that politics has been in the hands of this older generation for much too long, and their time has expired,” Halpern said. “Young people think it’s our time to take charge. It’s our time to say that we are going to be present in government. We’re going to have a voice.”