Hi, folks,
Disenfranchisement (not having eligibility to vote) is said to be underpinning the major childhood adversities and health problems today. This link will take you to the moment that Dr. Goodman makes this statement, and you're encouraged to listen before and afterwards for context.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bj-R2Uyi-7k
(Dr. Goodman is Associate Chief for Community-Based Research at MassGeneral Hospital for Children in Boston, a Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.)
I am a mother of young children and an advocate for a bill to be filed next week in Massachusetts enabling direct (as compared to 'virtual', where everyone theoretically votes the needs of the disenfranchised) political representation regardless of age or mental capacity via proxy voting. Currently in Massachusetts, those under the age of 18 and those under guardianship are excluded from the franchise. In this forthcoming bill, new guardians (at birth or adoption) would be proactively given proxy voter registration forms and be encouraged to vote as a proxy voter, vowing to voice the needs of their political dependent. Furthermore, though eligibility for representation would begin at birth, a dependent of the required school age (currently 6+) would need to be present and provide 'assent,' privately in their own booth, for any vote in their name to be admissible. This could be as simple as having a final bubble to fill in on the ballot, before it's turned in. There would also be a means for guardians to provide consent for minors ages 14+ to obtain their ballot independently. This coincides with the age that minors may petition the court to choose their legal guardian, and indeed, minors could petition the court to claim their ballot if consent were not given by the minor's guardian.
Here's the trouble: unless we can demonstrate that this bill has support of voters in Massachusetts, the legislature might not opt to give the bill a hearing. We want the hearing to be during this legislative session, to coincide with the hundredth anniversary of women's right to vote.
So, I'm writing to ask for your help getting Massachusetts voters to consider the importance of this.
Universal access to early childhood education and means of compensating early childhood educators properly has everything to do with public policy, including the vital laws about voter eligibility, which give power to the people and incentive to legislators.
Kindly,
Robin Chen