Newark 16 and 17-year-olds prepare to vote in April school board election

NEWARK, N.J. (PIX11) - A celebratory atmosphere inside the gym at Newark School of Data Science and Information Technology, as students ages 16 and 17 registered to vote in their school board election next month. 

Bryan Oko, a junior at the school, is glad he and his classmates could be part of something he calls monumental.

"We really wanted student representation in voting for the school board because the people who are elected on the school board are ultimately going to be making a lot of decisions for the kids," said Oko. 

A little more than a year ago, the City of Newark passed an ordinance to allow teens in this age group to have a voice in their school board elections.

"We want the kids to have a say in it," said Oko. "If they're going to be making decisions for the kids, obviously the kids have to have a say in it."

Gov. Phil Murphy and rapper A Boogie wit da Hoodie celebrated the historic nature of the non-partisan registration event, as these Newark students will be the first 16- and 17-year-olds in New Jersey to vote in an election.

"It took us a long time to do things like this in life," said A Boogie wit da Hoodie. "When I was younger, we didn't have these types of opportunities, so, man, let's keep on setting trends."

"Students have a lot of great ideas, I'm not going to lie about it, a lot of great ideas," said Abdul, a junior at the school. "With this, I hope we can spread these ideas and get them all across the actual- not just the State but honestly, across the country."

A bill in Trenton looks to take this concept statewide and let all 16 and 17-year-old students in New Jersey vote in their school board elections, legislation supported by Murphy.

"The irony is young people have a lower propensity to vote than older people and yet -think about this- older people have less of a runway in front of them," said Murphy (D-NJ). "These kids potentially have a hundred years to go in front of them, so the fact that there's this kind of enthusiasm is really, really important and impressive."

The deadline to register to vote in the Newark school board election is Tuesday, March 25th, just three weeks out from Election Day on Tuesday, April 15th.