A local youth-led organization working to lower the voting age decided to hit the ground running.
Fremont Youth Vote (FYV) is meeting with assemblymembers at the state capitol, making public comments in Fremont city meetings and making their voices heard on issues they care about.
Their main goal is to lower the voting age in California to 16 for school board elections. Those who vote in school board elections are essentially making decisions that affect students in the schools, from funding to voting for people that would represent the schools. Putting that power into the hands of students made sense to FYV.
“Sixteen-year-olds are affected the most by school board elections, because the school board makes decisions about student life and campus life,” said FYV marketing lead Baidehi Roy through a Zoom interview.
FYV is working on a state bill that would allow all 16-year-olds in California to vote in school board elections. FYV co-founder Arnav Rastogi said through Zoom they have authors for a state bill that may carry their bill to the assembly next year.
FYV was founded in December 2025 after Rastogi attended the California School Boards Association (CSBA) Annual Education Conference, a conference held for school board members and school district staff. He is the current Fremont Unified School District student school board member.
Shon Khisti explained how the organization was formed. During the conference, Rastogi called him and said he found out local school board elections are lowering the voting age to 16. “We thought we should do the same in Fremont,” he said.
Rastogi said they’re influenced by groups like Oakland Youth Vote. Khisti said they plan to have up to 40 members in their organization by this summer.
The movement to lower the voting age to 16 is happening across California. In Alameda County, Berkeley and Oakland have lowered the voting age to 16 for school board elections. Culver City in Southern California has already put the question on the ballot to lower the voting age to 16 for municipal elections. Albany is also working on decreasing the voting age.
FYV is making preparations for this election season. They plan to work with the senior center, the County Registrar of Voters and even local events to pass out a voter guide pamphlet. “We want to make a voter simplification guide,” said Khisti. “The problem that we’ve seen as youth is people don’t know what the superintendent of public instruction is, or people don’t know what the state controller is, and they kind of just look at the names and vote.”
Roy said they plan to invite election candidates and host a youth panel about voting. “Not only is that good for the candidates, for their publicity, but it’s also good for the youth to see how during an election, what candidates are running and get that connection with them [that’s] more than just a printed name on a ballot,” she said.
Roy said their local initiatives include recycling e-waste properly and banning the sale of flavored tobacco vapes. Another important issue they are working on is a protected left-turn lane that goes toward American High School. She said right now the turn is unprotected, which creates a dangerous situation for students trying to cross the street to get to school.
Rastogi said FYV is there to inspire and motivate other youth to get involved. “Our most significant goal is to make sure that the youth can really influence decisions that affect them,” he said. “Because oftentimes the people who are in charge making decisions can’t see the youth perspective, especially in things like city government.”
