With big issues at stake, young voters are tuning in to the city elections in Minneapolis and St. Paul

With the release of one dire climate report after another, Emma Wolters began to struggle with existential dread. Searching for ways to navigate through that fear as a teenager, Wolters joined a small, student-run climate action group.

Wolters was surprised that, even as high schoolers, the group was able to get an audience with local sustainability coordinators — and even St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter — as St. Paul developed its climate action plan. Though federal politics felt out of reach, getting involved in local government made her feel as if she could make a difference on big issues.

"The power of local representatives in actually shaping the day-to-day lives of people like me. ... That just became more and more clear," said Wolters, now 22.

With critical municipal elections on the ballot in Minneapolis, St. Paul, Duluth and other Minnesota cities, Wolters and other young people around the state are encouraging their peers to head to the polls. Though off election years see fewer voters, energy around the issues is high for a generation motivated by climate change, racial justice and access to affordable housing.

In Minneapolis, several young candidates are jostling to send the divided council further left. In St. Paul, a slate of young, diverse women are hoping to become the first all-women St. Paul City Council in history. And across the state, high school students as young as 16 and 17 are taking advantage of a new Minnesota law allowing them to preregister to participate in the political process in the future.

"I think it's a really exciting election year in both Minneapolis and St. Paul," said campaign volunteer Meg Daly, 27. "Particularly in St. Paul, I think we have the opportunity to win the most progressive council that we've ever seen, and that's really exciting."

More than 40 million members of Gen Z alone will be eligible to vote in 2024 — an increase of 8 million people who have aged into the electorate since the 2022 midterms, according to research from the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE). About 45% of those Gen Zers are youth of color.

In recent months, more than 1,500 teens have preregistered to vote in future elections, according to the office of Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon.

Though young people often are thought of as disengaged, especially in local election years, another CIRCLE study found that in 2022, Gen Z voted at a higher rate in their first midterm election than millennials or members of Generation X. That's a promising statistic for people looking to change the narrative that young voters are unreliable.

Chelsea Sheldon, co-founder of Believe in What's Possible, a youth-led Minnesota Gen Z political events organization, believes her generation is deeply engaged but said she has seen little investment from mainstream political organizations.

They host meetings like sip and paint events or music festivals to create spaces to talk to young people and invite their generation in. They provide election resources tailored to their generation, and make sure spaces do not feel exclusionary, said Sheldon, 23.

"A lot of us express that 'I don't want to be engaged because I don't want to make the wrong choice, because I don't want to feel stupid, because I don't want to elect a leader that I don't know will speak on behalf of my values,' " Sheldon said. "Without spaces that tell us it's okay to have questions, that can be really paralyzing."

Voters who come to events are concerned with some of the most visible issues: responses to encampments in Minneapolis or transit and access to affordable housing, Sheldon said.

At just 16, Charlie St. Dennis,a high school student and organizer already has volunteered with more than 40 political campaigns. This election, his work was noticeable enough to secure him a role with Anika Bowie's City Council campaign in St. Paul's First Ward.

The ward has had some of the lowest voter turnout in St. Paul, St. Dennis said, and they often engage people who did not have the council election on their radar.

"We're talking to a lot of people that just up until recently, and even now, are still unfamiliar with the fact that there even is an election coming up, and a lot of people that haven't voted before," St. Dennis said.

Housing affordability is top of mind for many renters and potential homeowners who are facing high property taxes and the effects of the 2021 rent control ordinance in St. Paul, he said.

Daly, the St. Paul volunteer, has knocked on a couple of hundred doors in St. Paul's First Ward. It's a mixed bag in terms of awareness of the election, Daly said, although most of her friends are planning to vote by virtue of being her friend.

Woodbury high school student Noah Yehalashet told himself he couldn't just sit around and complain about politics. Last year, he served as a student representative on his school board. This year, the 17-year-old is managing a school board campaign.

"There's a higher reward there than just trying to be involved with the White House," he said. "School board, city council is where you'll see the most impact but also where you'll have the most access."

Only setting your sights on the big picture, federal level, will almost always make you feel helpless said Wolters, manager with Hwa Jeong Kim's City Council campaign in St. Paul's Fifth Ward.

"It's so easy to get involved," Wolters said. "Reach out to people in your neighborhood. Look online for community events. You will find the community and the solutions that you're looking for on a scale that will impact your daily life."