Welcome to The Hill’s Changemakers: 24 of 2024. For the second year in a row, we’re highlighting both the household names and lesser-known players who are making an impact at the Capitol and around the world. Whether you agree or disagree with them, these two dozen pathfinders are setting the pace and shaking things up in Washington.
Approximately 150 newly arrived immigrants and English Language Learners, who are Broward County Public Schools (BCPS) high school students, will take part in Rally to the Tally for New Floridians from December 10 – 13, 2024. This four-day field trip provides students the opportunity to see first-hand the legislative system at work. Students will visit the state capital and tour Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, the University of Florida and the University of Central Florida.
A free press is a crucial part of our democracy—so important that it was enshrined in the First Amendment of the Constitution. Once a staple of information, newspapers have been steadily declining and disappearing for decades. There are nearly 6,000 newspapers that publish in the United States and, on average, two shut down every week.1 Current projections show that by the end of this year, the United States will have lost one-third of the newspapers that it had back in 2005.2 What does a community lose when its newspaper folds?
Newspapers often struggle with high production costs, decreased advertising revenue, and declining readership. These compounding factors can lead newspapers to lay off employees or cut back on how frequently they print as cost-cutting measures. Newspapers that once published daily may now print only a few editions per week. Some have shifted to become online-only publications. Other have shuttered altogether. Newspapers have become increasingly reliant on digital advertising to cover their operational costs, with digital ad sales accounting for nearly half of all revenue they take in.3
A shift to consuming news online, intensified by smartphones, has disrupted traditional news outlets like print media. In a 2023 survey by the Pew Research Center, only nine percent of U.S. adults said they turn to print publications often to get their news, compared to 56 percent who said they get their news digitally.4 The survey also found that nearly one-third of all young Americans get most of their news online from TikTok.5
The Local News Initiative, a project from Northwestern University that tracks local news outlets across the United States, has found that over 1,500 counties have only one local news outlet. More than 200 counties have none at all.6 This lack of local news outlets creates “information deserts” that deprive communities of vital information. Typically, when a newspaper shutters, there are no other news outlets—in print or online—that fill the information gap.7 Rural and low-income communities are more likely to suffer from a lack of quality news.8
“Increasingly, I’m worried that we’re evolving into a nation of journalistic haves and have-nots,” said Penny Abernathy of the Local News Initiative. “That has huge implications for not only our democracy, but for our society.”9 Journalists serve as checks on power, bringing accountability and transparency by investigating and reporting on government officials, school board members, and business owners. Their stories spur local governments to act on issues that they may not otherwise address. By reporting the facts, whether good or bad, they strengthen their community’s faith in local leaders and institutions. But in the last two decades, two-thirds of local reporters have lost their jobs.10 This creates a void of in-depth coverage and quality reporting on relevant topics and pressing issues.
These consequences impact our democracy by enabling “more corruption and irresponsible spending” by local governments and “more straight ticket voting, less competitive elections, and lower turnout” by voters.11 Newspapers keep people informed about the issues their community faces and how their local government functions. They provide updates about upcoming elections, candidates, city ordinances, policing procedures, and educational decisions. When people are aware of what’s going on, they can feel more invested in the success of their community and be more likely to civically engage in it. Conversely, people are less likely to speak out against a policy if they are unaware that it’s being considered by their city council, and they may decide to not vote in a local election if they don’t know about the candidates’ backgrounds or platforms.
The local angle of a story—the voices, opinions, and needs that are important to distinct communities—are lost when news is only available online or through national sources. These types of news can create media echo chambers and increase political partisanship, as they tend to frame stories, for a larger audience, in terms of “this side verses that side.”12 By highlighting conflict, it becomes difficult to see people, even neighbors, as anything other than the political party they belong to or the candidates they vote for. Online sources are also more susceptible to misinformation and disinformation without the journalistic standards practiced by newspaper journalists, editors, and publishers.
The sense of community that comes from knowing local news—even weekly football scores, marriage announcements, and obituaries—creates a common connection that can’t be easily replicated online or on a national level. “Our paper spoiled us,” said Steve Rader, who lives outside a small, rural community in Texas that lost its newspaper last year. “They did so much work. And it was so colorful and beautiful, and they celebrated our successes and our tough times.”13 When asked if the loss of the newspaper felt personal, he replied, “Oh, yes, yes. Yes, that paper was a part of our life.”14
Discussion Questions
Other Resources
As always, we encourage you to join the discussion with your comments or questions below.
Close Up is proud to be the nation’s leading nonprofit civic education organization, working with schools and districts across the country since 1971. If you would like to partner with us or learn more about our experiential learning programs, professional development, or curriculum design and consulting, contact us today!
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Washington , D.C. – On a chilly November morning here, Brie Wattier’s 8th graders at the Inspired Teaching Demonstration School had their eyes trained on the slides projected at the front of the class.“What are the good things about social media?” the slides read. “What are the bad things?”
Driven by my motivation to address stereotypes about my community and advocate for our needs, I traveled to Washington, D.C., for a weekend in July to attend America in One Room: The Youth Vote. During a few days of passionate political deliberation with more than 400 fellow first-time voters, I was excited to serve as a voice for the rural perspective to my peers who may have never set foot in or even driven through a rural community.
The Importance of Our Right to Vote
The 2020 election marked the highest voter turnout of the 21st century at 67 percent—the highest since 1900. In a country with a rich history of struggle and sacrifice for the right to vote, why do so many Americans remain disengaged?
Despite the monumental battles for voting rights, including movements for women’s suffrage and civil rights, many people still do not vote. With the 2024 election on the horizon, we will examine one factor that impacts voter turnout: the systems and laws that shape how we vote. From local and state races to the presidential election, voting laws play a critical role in who votes and how their voices are heard. We will also look at some of the less-examined issues connected to this year’s election.
Local and State Elections
Often when citizens think about voting, they’re thinking about the presidential election. However, state and local elections can have far greater effects on our lives. Questions such as public transit funding, the minimum wage, and recycling regulations are decided by state and local elections and officials.
This November, Americans across 41 states will be voting on some 160 statewide ballot measures, including measures covering the controversial question of abortion. The 2022 Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade (1973), putting the issue of abortion and any right to privacy between a woman and her health care provider back into the hands of the states. Because of this, voters in 11 states will be telling their state government whether or not it should protect a right to an abortion. Other ballot measures voters will see in November include those regarding citizenship, electoral systems, criminal justice, policing, taxes, wages, and drug policy.
READ more about this year’s ballot measures across the country.
READ more about Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
Differences Among Voting Laws
In the United States, there isn’t a federal standard when it comes to voting procedures. Instead, it is the responsibility of the states to create their own. This leads to a plethora of differences in how states run their elections.
To better understand this, let’s look more closely at voter registration laws, voter ID laws, and ranked-choice voting. States such as Pennsylvania, Louisiana, and Arizona have a strict deadline for voters to register. Other states like Virginia, Wyoming, and California don’t have a deadline and voters can register at the polling center on Election Day. When it comes to voting in person, whether early or on Election Day, 15 states do not require a voter to present a valid form of ID to vote. The states that do require voter ID differ in whether or not a valid ID must contain a photo. Other states require signature verification; if the voter signature provided doesn’t match the one on file, that vote will not be counted.
READ more about voter ID laws in different states.
How many candidates someone can vote for also differs from state to state because of a newer process in the United States known as ranked-choice voting. Ranked-choice voting allows voters to rank the candidates rather than choose just one; in the event a voter’s first choice doesn’t receive many votes, their vote then goes to their second and/or third choice. States such as Maine and Alaska have recently implemented this process in statewide elections. Some states, like Colorado and Maryland, use ranked-choice voting in local elections but others, such as Florida and Kentucky, have banned the process entirely. Although ranked-choice voting is new to the United States, countries such as Australia, Malta, and Ireland have used ranked-choice voting for over 100 years and a dozen others implemented the system prior to the United States.
WATCH to learn about the process, pros, and cons of ranked-choice voting.
Differences in How Elections Are Decided
Congressional and gubernatorial elections are decided by a popular vote, but the presidential election is decided by the Electoral College. Some Americans support this system of electing the president, which is outlined in the Constitution. Others believe it is outdated or misrepresentative of the electorate’s intent.
Under the Electoral College system, a candidate must win majority support in states across the country—in smaller, more rural states as well as in larger, more populated states. Supporters say this process ensures that a presidential candidate has broad appeal and that voters in rural areas are not ignored in favor of those in dense population centers. Detractors, however, say the system doesn’t always match the results of the nationwide popular vote and gives outsized importance to voters in “battleground” or “swing” states that could conceivably go for either candidate. This year, for example, voters in battleground states such as Pennsylvania and Georgia could be instrumental in deciding the next president.
The Electoral College system has its merits and drawbacks. But a voter’s perception of their own importance can affect their feelings about casting a ballot. However, it is still incredibly important for all of us as Americans to vote to choose our elected officials and weigh in on statewide ballot measures.
Don’t Sit Out
As we approach the 2024 election, the differences in how our voting systems operate across states—from registration laws to voter ID requirements—can feel overwhelming at times. However, it’s vital to remember that every election, from the local to the national level, carries significant weight. While the Electoral College system may not always reflect the popular vote, each ballot cast plays a role in shaping policy and electing leaders who impact everything from education to health care to civil rights. In a democracy, voting is both a right and a responsibility. Understanding the systems that influence our elections can empower us to make informed choices and ensure our voices are heard where it counts.
Discussion Questions
As always, we encourage you to join the discussion with your comments or questions below.
Close Up is proud to be the nation’s leading nonprofit civic education organization, working with schools and districts across the country since 1971. If you would like to partner with us or learn more about our experiential learning programs, professional development, or curriculum design and consulting, contact us today!
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What is the United South and Eastern Tribes Inc. (USET)?
For over 30 years, Close Up has partnered with USET to foster civic and democratic engagement among students from USET’s member tribal nations. USET is a nonprofit, intertribal organization established in 1969. It serves 33 federally recognized tribal nations from the northeastern woodlands to the Everglades and across the Gulf of Mexico. USET is dedicated to enhancing the development of tribal nations, improving the capabilities of tribal governments, and elevating the quality of life for citizens of its member nations through various technical and supportive programmatic services.
What is the USET Impact Week Youth Summit?
The 2024 USET Impact Week Youth Summit lasted seven days and six nights and featured workshops on tribal sovereignty, federal politics, and pressing issues facing Indigenous communities across North America. These sessions aimed to cultivate essential leadership skills and empower young people to voice their opinions and actively participate in their communities. Through guided inquiry, workshops, dialogue, and deliberation, attendees learned more about their rights and responsibilities as citizens of tribal nations and members of their communities. The summit also fosters partnerships among tribal communities, allowing youth to share best practices in civic engagement and to learn from one another.
The 2024 USET Impact Week Youth Summit culminated in the presentation of a collective Youth Statement on Sovereignty, articulated by 88 high school students from 18 member tribal nations. This statement highlighted the importance of preserving tribal sovereignty across five sectors:
This collective statement underscores the students’ commitment to defending, exercising, and maintaining tribal sovereignty as vital for the future of their communities.
What is Tribal Sovereignty?
Tribal sovereignty refers to the right of tribal nations to govern themselves and make decisions that suit the needs of their communities. This means they have the authority to manage their affairs, including law enforcement, education, and land stewardship. As of 2024, there are over 574 federally recognized tribes, each with unique cultures, traditions, and government structures.
Why is Tribal Sovereignty Important to Tribal Nations?
Sovereignty is inherent to tribal nations and holds significant cultural and community meaning for Indigenous peoples throughout the United States. It is also shaped by treaties and agreements made with the U.S. government and recognized through legislation, statutes, executive orders, and Supreme Court rulings. There are many areas in which tribal nations exercise their sovereign status, including:
Despite its importance, tribal sovereignty faces challenges. Sometimes, state and federal governments might overreach into tribal affairs, which undermines the authority of tribal nations. For example, disputes over land rights, taxation, and criminal jurisdiction can lead to tensions between tribal nations and other government entities.
Conclusion
Participants leave the USET Impact Week Youth Summit feeling empowered and connected to the USET/Close Up community, equipped with knowledge and pride in their identities. By investing in the next generation of Indigenous leaders, USET and Close Up play a vital role in preparing youth to address the evolving challenges within Indian Country. The impact of these experiences is profound, shaping future advocates who will champion their distinct cultures and serve the needs of their diverse communities.
This summit is one of several impactful Close Up programs that focus on helping students study and address the issues affecting Native American youth and their tribal communities. If you would like to learn more about the USET Impact Week Youth Summit, the American Indian and Alaska Native Youth Summit, or other Close Up programming opportunities, reach out to us today!
In the past six years, the introduction of bills in state legislatures to ban gender-affirming care for transgender and gender diverse youth has increased exponentially. In 2018, two such bills were introduced. In 2023, there were 185. Arkansas became the first state to ban gender-affirming care for youth in 2021; now, there are 26 states with bans on gender-affirming care for transgender youth. In response, other states have begun passing laws protecting access to gender-affirming care. It is estimated that 110,000 transgender teenagers, about 40 percent of transgender youth, live in states with bans on gender-affirming care.
What is Gender-Affirming Care?
Gender-affirming care consists of an array of services, including both medical and non-medical interventions for transgender and gender diverse people. Medical services can include hormone therapy, surgery, and mental health services. Non-medical services can include adopting gender-affirming hairstyles, clothing, names, gender pronouns, and restrooms and other facilities.1
Gender-affirming medical care for youth most often consists of puberty blockers that stop the onset of puberty. Doctors say the goal of puberty blockers is to give young people time to mature enough mentally and emotionally to make informed decisions about whether to pursue permanent treatment. Once someone stops taking them, puberty starts again as normal. Gender-affirming medical care for youth can also include hormone therapy and, rarely, surgical intervention.2
What Kinds of Bills Have Passed?
The details of state bans on gender-affirming care vary, but in general, the laws prevent transgender minors from accessing puberty blockers, hormones, and surgery. More than 20 states have passed laws that punish health care professionals for providing gender-affirming care to their minor patients. Five states have made it a felony, and in eight states it is illegal for providers to offer minors referrals for care outside their state or otherwise aid and abet access to gender-affirming care.3
Sixteen states and the District of Columbia have shield laws that protect access to gender-affirming care for transgender and gender diverse youth. Shield laws vary by state but generally preserve minors’ access to gender-affirming care and protect patients, guardians, and medical professionals from prosecution for seeking or providing care.4
What Do Opponents of Gender-Affirming Care for Minors Say?
Opponents of providing gender-affirming care point to examples of people who began their transition and later expressed regret or decided to de-transition later in life. They argue that minors are not mature enough to make such life-altering decisions.
“We need to just pause, we need to understand what these emerging therapies actually may potentially do to our kids. My heart goes out to them. … This is an extremely uncomfortable position for me to be in. I don’t like it. But I have to do what I believe right now is in the best interest of the kids,” said Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds when signing the state’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors.5
Opponents also point to increasing restrictions abroad. The National Health Service in England recently ended the practice of prescribing puberty blockers to children, citing a lack of evidence of the safety and effectiveness to make them a part of routine treatment.6 Many other European countries do not allow the use of cross-sex hormones until age 16, and only then allow them after a patient has completed several psychotherapy sessions. In addition, most European countries ban gender-affirming surgery until age 16.7
What Do Supporters of Gender-Affirming Care for Minors Say?
Nearly all major U.S. medical associations support youth access to gender-affirming care, including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Psychological Association. In particular, these groups point to evidence demonstrating that medically necessary gender-affirming care enhances mental health outcomes for transgender youth, including by reducing suicidal ideation.8
The AMA released this statement after Arkansas passed its ban: “Decisions about medical care belong within the sanctity of the patient-physician relationship. … We believe it is inappropriate and harmful for any state to legislatively dictate that certain transition-related services are never appropriate and limit the range of options physicians and families may consider when making decisions for pediatric patients.”9
Supporters also argue that transgender and nonbinary minors are not the only youth seeking gender-affirming care. A Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health study examined 2019 data for 22,827,194 youth with health insurance. It found that most gender-affirming surgeries for both transgender and cisgender (someone whose gender identity matches their sex at birth) youth were chest-related surgeries, and 97% of breast reduction surgeries were for cisgender males. Breast augmentation surgery for cisgender females is likewise considered gender-affirming medical care.10 Supporters point to this data and note that the same surgeries that are being banned for transgender and gender diverse youth are relatively unregulated for their cisgender counterparts.
Are There Any Federal Bills in Congress?
Like in state legislatures, there have been bills introduced in Washington, D.C., that would ban gender-affirming care for youth and others that would protect it. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green (R-Ga.) introduced H.R.1399, the Protecting Children’s Innocence Act, which would make it a felony to perform any gender-affirming care on a transgender minor, prohibit the use of federal funds for gender-affirming care or for health insurance that covers such care, and prohibit universities from offering instruction in gender-affirming care.11 Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) introduced S.2246, the Gender-Affirming Care Access Research for Equity (CARE) Act, which would provide $25 million in funding for the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to research barriers to gender-affirming care and the impact of those barriers on the health of transgender teens.12
Discussion Questions
Additional Resources
Related Blog Posts
As always, we encourage you to join the discussion with your comments or questions below.
Close Up is proud to be the nation’s leading nonprofit civic education organization, working with schools and districts across the country since 1971. If you would like to partner with us or learn more about our experiential learning programs, professional development, or curriculum design and consulting, contact us today!
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On September 17, the Sine Institute of Policy and Politics at American University released results of a poll that focused on the views of Americans ages 18-34. The survey was designed by the Sine Institute in partnership with Future Caucus and Close Up Foundation and was based on interviews conducted by Generation Lab, a data intelligence company that gathers and interprets the views and behavior of young adults. Last week, we explored young Americans’ levels of optimism and hope. In this post, we will explore the question of what young Americans are looking for in their political leaders.
When poll participants were asked to list the three most important qualities they look for in a political candidate, they listed a motivation to serve others as the highest priority. They also said they want leaders who actively listen to and consider the perspectives of others and who are willing to compromise to get results. Interestingly, they ranked all three of those attributes above the priority of a leader supporting the policies that the poll participants support.
One element of this survey that distinguishes it from many other political surveys is that it asked respondents to listen to eight short, AI-generated audio clips of a hypothetical candidate’s pitch to voters. The text of those clips, along with their labels, is shared below. Survey respondents did not see the labels.
Respondents were asked to rate, on a scale of 1-10, how appealing they found each campaign pitch.
Next week, we will take a final look at the results from this Sine Institute survey of young Americans to explore their views about the 2024 presidential election.
Discussion Questions
Related Blog Posts
As always, we encourage you to join the discussion with your comments or questions below.
Close Up is proud to be the nation’s leading nonprofit civic education organization, working with schools and districts across the country since 1971. If you would like to partner with us or learn more about our experiential learning programs, professional development, or curriculum design and consulting, contact us today!
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Check out the unveiling of the America in One Room: The Youth Vote impact report! Learn about key findings, hear from participants about their experience, and discover how Close Up and DDL are spreading a culture of deliberative dialogue this election year through virtual deliberations with youth nationwide.
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